Luftwaffe ace Walter Oesau celebrates his 100th victory at Saint-Pol – Bryas in August 1941

Walter Oesau (June 28th 1913 to May 11th 1944) was a Luftwaffe fighter pilot from 1934 until his death in 1944. He served with the Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War with Jagdgruppe 88 and claimed nine aircraft during the campaign, becoming one of only 28 people to earn the award of the Spanish Cross in Gold and Diamonds.

At the start of World War II, Oesau was given command of a fighter group within Jagdgeschwader 20. The group took part in the Invasion of Poland, later moving to the Western Front as the redesignated III Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 51. Oesau operated on both the Western and Eastern Fronts. He then returned to operations as commander of Jagdgeschwader 1 and was eventually killed in action on May 11th 1944.

0:00 At the time this footage was filmed he held the rank of Major and was flying a Bf 109 F with Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen". He waggles his wings on returning from a mission to indicated that it was successful, this was possibly August 12th when Oesau claimed five Spitfires shot down in one day, raising his score to 101 victories. Between August and December 1941 he claimed a total of 14 aircraft shot down, all of them Spitfires.

0:18 Bf 109 is rearmed with 20mm cannon rounds for the MG 151/20 "motorkanone" firing through the propeller hub fed from a box in the wing as well as 7.92mm ammunition for the pair of MG 17 machine guns above the engine. Oesau reportedly saw this loadout as a step back from the previous E model that had two 20mm MG FF/M cannon in the wings and continued to fly the latter model until lack of spares forced the switch to the F model.

0:30 As part of his equipment Oesau carries a 26.5mm flare pistol and ammunition around his left leg. The "arrow" marking on his Bf 109 indicates that it is the Commanding Officer's aircraft, Oseau took over command of JG 2 not long before this footage was captured after his predecessor Wilhelm Balthasar was killed in combat against RAF Spitfires over France on July 3rd 1941.

1:00 Gun camera footage likely from Oesau's 109 shows Spitfires being engaged. In terms of aircraft the Bf 109 F arguably well matched with the Spitfire Mk V, so pilot skill was a critical factor in deciding the outcome of aerial combat.

Walter Oeseau was killed while dogfighting with P-38 Lightnings of the 428th Fighter Squadron USAAF on May 11th 1944 while he was Geschwaderkommodore of JG 1, dying from wounds suffered from gunfire striking his cockpit. He was apparently unwell with influenza that day but pressure from Hermann Göring led him to take to the air regardless of his high fever for what would be his final mission.

Oesau was aged 30 at the time of his death. with a total of 127 victories scored over 300 missions. 27 of his claims were Spitfires and 14 were four-engined bombers, 44 were scored on the Eastern Front and 9 in the Spanish Civil War. In recognition of his record, JG 1 received the title "Oesau" in honor of its fallen Geschwaderkommodore. Only Werner Mölders had a similar honor with JG 51 "Mölders".