The thing about winning is the setup.
All the things others have talked about, E-state, altitude, etc are part of the set-up. If you are even half serious about dragging 10-red guys out of fight you blew the set up. Not that you don't enter a fight with 10-15 guys, it is all how you enter that fight. And if you want to exit the fight with any chance of landing kills you will need to boom and zoom that fight. If you plan to go into the fight, make a few turns then egress you might as well drop your flaps, landing gear and plan on staying a while. With that many bad guys there is almost zero chance of getting out alive.
I'm not a 38 stick though the good ones can talk you through BnZ in something like that. I just know enough to say: Go in with altitude, pick around the edges, BnZ at the right time, part of your BnZ is wondering where your nose will be pointed on the Zoom part (deep into the sea of red means certain death) etc.
Take your time, pick the fight at the right moment and think two steps ahead. One thing I would do is not worry about how many kills you get but how many chances you can set up. Plan to make 10 passes at the bad guy. This means you will fly a bit cautious, some would say Nancy but who cares. Your goal is 10 good passes, this means no kamikaze crap. Take your time, go in smart, hit hard and get out fast. Do that 10 times in one flight and count the kills and assists. And if you get worried about the Nancy thing go read about people like Eric Hartmann. It's how he racked up 354 kills.
