I'm sorry, Maybe i'm ignorant.. But I don't understand how smaller maps would change anything.
Every country has 2 fronts. If you want a fight, you simply fly over to a neighboring enemy field, make yourself visible on their dar, and another pilot that wants a fight will almost always up to do so. you want to take bases ? same as any other map. get a few players together, attack a field and the enemy WILL up to defend. The ONLY problem I see with the large maps is.. there are so few players these days, that it's too hard to win, and the maps get boring after being up for a week. where as the smaller maps can be won in a day or 2.