Gefreiter Willy Kammann was a Bf 109 pilot with 4.(F)/123 in northern France (Nonancourt). Kammann failed to return from a sortie on June 20, 1944 over the Seine Bay area and was believed shot down by Allied fighters while on a reconnaissance flight at the controls of Bf 109 G-5 W.Nr. 110381 "blue 5".
According to the letter of condolence dated June 26, 1944, sent to the family from his
Staffelkapitän Hptm. Heinz Feilmayer and reproduced below, Kammann was assigned to fly a sortie with Ofhr. Schäfer, ".
.one of the oldest and most experienced pilots in the Staffel.. ". The sortie was a recce mission over the
'Invasionsraum'. Schäfer's machine however developed a technical problem so that Kammann found himself in the air on his own and elected to fly the sortie alone. He confirmed he was proceeding with the sortie "
via a radio transmission some twenty minutes after getting airborne". Feilmayer writes that this was the last communication received from the pilot and that "
there has been no subsequent news from him. .." Feilmayer states that Kammann was always keen to fly missions assigned to him, he was '
Einsatz begeistert' and '
pflichttreu' (dutiful) and on the day he went missing would have been determined to carry out his orders under all circumstances. He had no doubt fallen victim to the enemy's defences...." ..
Over the past few days I have been hoping and expecting to receive some word of your son although I now see that I am forced to inform you of this very sad news....
I know that words will not alleviate your sorrow but the certainty that your son's sacrifice was for the (..) Homeland may be of some consolation... .. "
Staffelkapitän Hptm. Heinz Feilmayer was himself posted missing on 17 August 1944 after a recce sortie over the Dreux-Chartres-Versailles sector.
NB: spelling of names corrected, thanks to regular blog readers for pointing this out!
Willy Kammann (two 'm' and two 'n')
Heinz
Feilmayer
