"*Awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. He began his career in I./ZG 1 with the rank of Fahnenjunker. In the spring of 1940, he was transferred to 7./JG54. On May 20, 1940, he shot down his first aircraft. By the spring of 1942, he had shot down 40 Soviet aircraft. On May 12, 1942, he became the seventh in the Luftwaffe to shoot down 100 enemy aircraft. He is known for the unconventional maneuvering of the Me-109, especially in its aerobatic maneuvers. On August 9, 1942, during a battle with a LaGG-3 from the 41st Fighter Aviation Regiment, Senior Lieutenant Arkady Sukov shot down Ostermann's Me-109, crashed into Lake Ilmen near Novgorod, and sank. The pilot was killed. In total, he completed over 300 combat sorties.*"