As the World War II in Europe began on Friday 1 September 1939 when German forces invaded Poland. During this invasion, Wolfgang Späte served with Heeres-Ergänzungs-Aufklärungsgruppe 23 flying reconnaissance missions. Later after he trained as a fighter pilot, Späte was posted to 5. Staffel of JG 54 on 1 January 1941 as a replacement pilot due to the severe losses sustained during the Battle of Britain.

On 29 March the II Gruppe was withdrawn from the English Chanel ending up flying combat air patrols on the Hungarian-Yugoslavian border. The second day of the fighting, on 7 April Späte filed his first claim, a Yugoslavian Blenheim that he downed over Fünfkirchen.

Following the surrender of the Yugoslavians the JG 54 received orders on 3 May 1941 to turn over all Bf 109 Es so they could receive the new Filip version. After transition training was completed the JG 54 was moved to airfields in Eastern Prussia. Flying from their base at Trakehnen they were taken part in the invasion of the Soviet Union, on 22 June with II. Gruppe supporting Army Group North in its strategic goal towards Leningrad.

Victories came regularly for Späte, his first two on in the East was claimed on the 23 June both, SB-2 bombers. Another five follows during the rest of the month, thereby reaching a total of eight Abschusse. And up to 19 July he added another eight confirmed victories, including two doubles, on 17 and 19 July, the last two was filed within two minutes, both MiG-1 fighters, shot down over Polnowo. His next would follow on 25 July.

However by this time his trusty "Black 2" was to be found in the Sarudinje airfield dump, in a derelict state stripped of parts. The machine shown signe of damage. The only loss in the II./JG 54 statistics during the period was a Bf 109 F-2 with the W.Nr. 6785, that on 20 July due to engine problems was forced to belly-land, resulting in 60% damage, a write off.

On 10 September, 1941 Späte was appointed Staffelkapitän of 5. Staffel of JG 54. On 5 October he recived the Ritterkreuz after reching 45 victories. And on 23 April 1942 Späte received the covered Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub when he had 72 victories.

However, with the award, he was ordered back to the Reich to set up a top-secret unit: Erprobungskommando 16 to test-fly the revolutionary new rocket-fighter, the Me 163 "Komet".

Späte took his first flight in the Me 163 on 8 May 1942. Over the next year testing continued and slowly specially chosen pilots joined EKdo 16. Side by side with the rocket-fighter project, was the test program of the Me 262 jet-fighter (under EKdo 262). On 17 April 1943, Späte became the first Luftwaffe pilot to fly the revolutionary Turbinjäger.

However in May 1944 Späte was appointed Kommandeur of IV./JG 54. His new unit was quickly recalled to Germany in June to cover the transfer of all the squadrons sent west following the D-day landings. There it was converted onto the Fw 190A-8 and then sent to Poland against the great Russian summer offensive.

Whether due to problems getting the Me 163 operational, or his unit's catastrophic losses, Späte gave up his command of IV./JG 54. In his 4-month absence from the Me 163 program, the first combat unit (I./JG 400) had been set up and he joined that unit to come back up to speed on the interceptor's progress.

However the Me 163 was far from successful and the after JG 400 was disbanded, Späte joined the Stab of JG 7 flying the Me 262. On 15 April 1945 the Geschwader was ordered to relocate to airfields in Czechoslovakia to continued to fly missions in the defense of Berlin.

Two days later, on 17 April, JG 7 was able to get 20 Me 262 airborne which intercepted B-17s bombers over Dresden. In this encounter, Major Wolfgang Späte claimed his 95th abschusse, the first while flying in the Me 262, another four would follow, all 4-engine US bombers, thereby reaching his war total of 99 confirmed victories.