Having just taken down a Cruiser, with less than optimal aircraft I felt a moment of smugness.
Only a moment, as on the way back to the base, my squadron had to go through 8 interceptions from a heavy fighter squadron. It would have been more, but my squadron ran out of fuel and were all shot down.
There's no way to avoid these combats. The completion of one leads directly into the next. So, you can turn and fight, with no weapons and get destroyed. Or try and run, go through seven further battles, and get destroyed.
The only way out, is to take out the squadron before going on your main mission.
It's a little frustrating. To be honest, I'd rather have a screen come up and just tell me that the squadron were shot down on the way back to the base, than have to go through eight combats to achieve the same effect.
I seem to recall this being an issue in an earlier build, but can't recall what, if anything, was done about it. There is a logic to the aliens taking on a returning squadron. Much in the same way they used to target lonely Chinooks and transport planes.