You can come to various results depending on altitude and situation. What you simulate in the QMB is exactly what was taught to be avoided in RL. Air combat is about gaining advantage
before the engagement and relying on
your strengths, and what you discovered is simply the truth of the saying 'never engage in a dogfight with a Zero'.
4.10 & DBW AI sucks big times in any regard.
Against rookie, normal and veteran AI you can win any fight by simply flying a smooth prolonged turn in any direction.
In that situation, AI will waste all their ammo falling short behind you [...]
I still observe this in 4.12. The AI gets a sort of target fixation and wastes its ammo without adjusting aim in such situations. On the other hand, the AI is astonishingly precise in
constantly hitting whatever spot he aims, as precise as a human would never be due to recoil and head-shake effects and rough control movements. I have the impression that the average AI is inferior to average humans in aiming, while it's superior in hitting whatever spot it aims.