Pilots of JG 1

Three Staffelkapitäne of I.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1). From left to right: Hauptmann Wolfgang Ludewig (2.Staffel), Hauptmann Heinz "Heinrich" Künnecke (1.Staffel) and Oberleutnant Karl Emil Demuth (3.Staffel). When this photograph was taken at Leck, Schleswig-Holstein, towards the end of the war, there were about 45 Heinkel He 162s of I.(Einsatz)/JG 1 in the background.

A Focke-Wulf Fw 190 of Walter Oesau (part 1)

A Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-5 'Grüne 13' (Werknummer 1230) flown by Walter Oesau, shown here at Beaumont le Roger, France, around 1943. The rudder shows five aircraft silhouettes - this marking is either showing his 100+ victories, or five out of his fourteen downed bombers.

Oberst Walter Oesau

Oberst Walter "Gulle" Oesau, Geschwaderkommodore for Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1) and for whom it was named after his death on 11 May 1944. Oesau scored 127 victories in over 300 combat missions. 9 victories were scored during the Spanish Civil War, 74 were scored on the Western front including 14 four-engined bombers (one B-17 as engültige Vernichtung) and 44 over the Eastern front