The Allies prevailed due to the ability to wage and "Maintain" effective military stratigie, the Axis powers were not capable of "Sustaining" a effective military strategy.
The cold reality was that it became a war of attrition, a war the axis could not win. All the strategy in the world would not have saved them nor would the allies lost had they had the worst strategy around (~25x numerical adv).
Debrody is correct, that often a much smaller attack force of axis pilots would attack a larger group, and many would come home but despite their success at surviving, they failed the objective, which was to stop the bomber formations. Which I would like to add is impossible for 26 fighters to do considering the numbers the allies put up. I would like to point out 3 things though...
1) Much like the British in the battle of the Britain, the Germans had an effective radar network that allowed them to engage with an alt advantage.
2) Against the 8th, which was not defended by fighters effectively until the '44, had different goals. The 8ths goal was to get to the target, not to pad their AH fighter rank or figure out who was grizz and gang the f**k sh**t out of him. On the same token, the LW goal was to take out the bombers, not tangle with the p51s/p47s.
3) As the war progressed, the LW was ever more comprised of kids with less than 10 hours in the cockpit, with a few uber aces whom were able to survive the impossible.
As much as this sounds like I am contradicting my previous post, let me try to explain. It was one thing that expert Axis pilots could survive and another that they were 'successful' in completing the intended goal. It didn't matter if Galland or Heartman got 20 kills a flight, there were still 1200 bombers and 900 fighters left still progressing to the target, flattening the cities & destroying the factories. The numbers were so mismatched it was hopeless, which goes back to my previous point, its a numbers game, and....
more toys = win!
