Converting from the tight Vee Kette to the open Rotte often proved difficult, even for many seasoned pilots — especially when all members of the Schwarm made a sharp turn simultaneously. The long distance between the extreme right and extreme left aircraft would force the plane closest to the center of the arc to reduce speed, while the plane farthest from the center of the arc had to increase speed. In order to avoid this problem, the wingman, who flew slightly higher than the leader, was to sideslip over the leader to make both members of the Rotte scribe the same arc.

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An example of the sideslip crossover maneuver danger occurred on April 4, 1938, when Nos. 1 and 2 Staffeln were making a reassignment flight from Zaragoza to Huesca. Leutnant Fritz Awe was leading a No. 1 Staffel Schwarm when he ordered a 90-degree left turn. As his wingman, Unteroffizier Adolf Borchers, overlapped Awe's Messerschmitt, Borchers' propeller sliced into Awe's cockpit, breaking the fuselage in half. The tail spun to earth while the cockpit, forward fuselage, engine and wing fluttered down like a falling leaf. When rescuers arrived at Awe's wreckage, they found the dead pilot sitting in the cockpit, decapitated. Borchers' Messerschmitt overturned upon landing, but his injuries were slight.

Franco captured Teruel and Vinaroz and started his 1938 offensive against Barcelona in Catalonia. Mölders assumed command of 3.J/88 on May 24, 1938, just before the first of five new four-gun and radio equipped Bf-109C-1 fighters arrived for J/88 during the summer. Numbers 1, 2 and 3 Staffeln now flew Messerschmitts, while all the He-51s were flown by No. 4 Staffel, led by Hauptmann Eberhardt d' Elsa. As soon as each squadron received its Messerschmitts, its number of victories increased dramatically.

Mölders opened his scoring in a new four-gun Bf-109C-1 on July 15, 1938, when he shot down a Chato — a move he repeated two days later. At the time that Mölders began scoring, there were already at least seven Condor Legion fighter pilots who had five or more victories to their credit, which would have classified them as aces in most of the world's air forces except for Germany's. The Luftwaffe did not recognize the term ace but bestowed the title Experte on any pilots who consistently scored victories. Those pilots who had scored five or more victories before Mölders began scoring were: Hauptmann Harder, 11 victories; Oberleutnant Balthasar, six, including the destruction of four Soviet SB-2 twin engine bombers in six minutes on February 7, 1938 (he had joined 1.J/88 in January 1938 and moved to 2.J/88 by the following month); Leutnant Reinhard Seiler, nine; Unteroffizier Kurt Rochel, six; Leutnant Hans-Karl Mayer, five; Oberleutnant Wolfgang Schellmann, five; and Feldwebel Herbert Ihlefeld, nine. Mölders soon caught up and surpassed them all.

Galland returned to Germany in 1938 without having ever flown a Messerschmitt in combat, though he would go on to score 103 victories in them during World War II. Mölders scored his 14th and final victory on November 3, 1938, when his tour of duty expired. He returned to Germany as the leading Experte of the Condor Legion. The scores and ranks of other successful German fighter pilots by the end of the war in Spain included: Hauptmann Wolfgang Schellmann, 12 victories; Leutnant Peter Boddem, 10; Oberleutnant Walter Oesau, nine; Hauptmann Knüppel, eight; Oberleutnant Balthasar, seven; Oberleutnant Rolf Pingel, six; and Hauptmann Lützow, five.

On March 27, 1939, white flags were seen flying over Madrid, and the city surrendered the following day. General Franco declared the Spanish Civil War had ended on April 1, 1939.

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