Does the 3-1 rule apply to air combat?

Seems to me there's a lot of "apples vs oranges" so far in this
discussion. If you take a look at the air war in the Battle for France
or the air war over Europe from August 1944 on you see what numbers
can do for you. Numbers times quality gives you a down and dirty
measure of capability but it nevertheless means it's tough on the side
with the lower result.
Also, picking one encounter out of the stack can give misleading
results because of the large number of variables.
Lnachester's Rule applies - generally - but Saburo Sakai in his A6M5
Zero was jumped by 16 Hellcats - and got away . . . . OTH Clarence
Schomo in a P38 jumped a flight of Japanese fighters on a ferry hop
(forgot what they were - Zeros or Franks, ISTR - and got 7 of them . .
.. go figure. Or for real awesome technical superiority - the Bekaa
Valley Turkey Shoot.
Walt BJ