Answering to HTs argument:
1. Squads could choose a different night to fly.
I fly when time permits.
My customers wouldnt be happy if i told them i cant work for them because I need to play Aces-High NOW because my Aces-High country has low numbers.
2. Squads could talk to squads in the smaller country to get them to fly the same night as they did.
Isn't that fairly hypothetical?
3. They could change countries.
If someone flys for one country for a long time he knows the people there and might not want to switch.
4. They could view things as a challange to win with lesser aircraft
Hmm - This very much depends on what you want to do. If what you want to do is already a dangerous challenge with a low eny plane then it will probably become impossible with a high eny plane!
Just as an example:
Situation:
- Enemy planes are launching heavy attacks on my countries airfield 'X' from their airfield 'Y'
- The only friendly aircraft up in the skies are defending our airfield X
My plan:
- Come in low over to the enemy base Y alone, to interrupt the wave of attacking planes by involving them in dogfights, while the friendly planes keep defending base X.
- Since I like to play as realistically as possible I also would like to survive that mission.
Problem with eny:
The only way this plan can be achieved with a 'lesser' aircraft is by flying in very high with a big E advantage and cherry picking planes from the attacking wave. (Disrupting the wave of attacking airplanes for a short time would also work coming in low alt, but chances for surviveability would be 0, no matter how good a pilot flys the lesser plane)
Coming in at high alt means that you have to climb for ages and then cherrypick - I know some people dont mind, but attacking from high altitude is not my style.
What will happen:
So I come in low with the 'lesser' aircraft (for example seafire) and attack the wave of incoming aircraft close to their base. If i am good i can maybe shoot down 2 or 3 of the 5 or 6 aircraft that now engage me, but eventually they will shoot me down since i wont be able to get out EVER with a slow plane.
Conclusion:
If only lesser aircraft are enabled, the only way to win this plan: NOT TO PLAY IT.
And this is just one example of tactics that exclusively work with low eny planes. Using a lesser plane doesnt simply make some tactics a challenge- instead it makes some tactics (especially those which are already VERY difficult&dangerous with a low eny plane) IMPOSSIBLE.
This can be very frustrating - especially for pilots who dont like to fly in hordes all the time and dont like to fly high-alt either