An axis pilot taking off was almost guaranteed to find a fight. Many allied pilots, especially later in the war, flew an entire tour and got a glimpse at a Messerschmidt maybe once or twice. I remember some attempt to normalize Robert Johnson's score by his number of sorties and number of times he actually engaged the LW.
Experience goes a long long way in a war. The LW pilots that were talented enough or just lucky enough to survive, racked up more experience than the most experienced allied pilot. Even a naturally mediocre pilots with lots of experience can become really good and club the talented newbies in their spitfires, P51 and yaks - as we all know so well from AH.