Anybody considered the fact that there could be more total killls & sorties with the introduction of maps with fighter towns? It's not like you have to up, climb for a few minutes, look for a fight, and start your engagement.
Now, you can jump in a fighter, up from a 5k base into a 1k fight, and start shooting immediately. You don't even have time for a smoke break since, for the most part, there's no climb out. The, with the non-stop fighters streaming into the area, escape options (especially in slow rides) are very severely limited.
I wouldn't be so quick to say 44k sorties in a SpitXVI is because it's uber. The biggest furball in the game never ends on some maps, and it's *right* there next to a convenient base on each side.
edit: okay, 1 fighter town that I know of. however, if it's up for an entire week, it's more than enough to skew the numbers with the 30 second trips to the fight.