Friday 18 February 2022

Gfr. Hans Dahmen 2./JG 300 Bf 109 G-6 - Ebay photo find #353


I./JG 300 Bf 109 G-6 seen at Bad Wörishofen, photo dated August 10, 1944. The inscription on the reverse of the photo - 'in friendship, from Hans, Bad Wörishofen, August 1944' - suggests that the pilot seated on the cockpit was one of Kommandeur Hptm. Stamp's 2. Staffel teenagers, 19-year old Gfr. Hans “Hänschen” Dahmen.. Dahmen's 'regular' machine was 'red 2'. Current bid is over 330 euros with two days to go, no doubt some 'mad Frenchie' keeping the bidding high. 

Edit- final selling price was a frankly quite mind-boggling 1,561 euros.....



Dahmen downed a bomber on 18 July 1944 and two more 15th AF Viermots fell to his fire on 25 July over Linz. He registered hits on a third B-24 during this action for an endgültige Vernichtung. Dahmen's Kaczmarek was Uffz. Wolfgang Hundsdörfer. Both Dahmen and Hundsdörfer brought down B-17s on August 22 raiding refineries in Austria but I./JG 300 ran into 31st and 52nd FG Mustangs. Gfr. Hans Dahmen was brought down near Raab. Some Hungarian villagers found him staggering along a track, blinded by blood pouring from numerous facial wounds. The windscreen of Dahmen’s Bf 109 G 6 had been shattered by several impacts, the shards ripping into the young pilot’s face and eyes.

Uffz. Dahmen was KIA flying against Soviet spearheads on the Eastern Front on February 3, 1945, his G-10 'red 14' brought down by anti-aircraft fire as recalled by Lt. “Timo” Schenk; 

" ..The Rotte Hundsdörfer- Dahmen was hunting over the Warthe, to the east of Göritz. Hans Dahmen, usually very cagey and wily, was flying as number 2 just behind Hundsdörfer, when they roared over a column of refugees. They hauled around at low altitude and straightened out flying parallel to the road.Suddenly the canvas awnings of two trucks fell away. Soviet anti-aircraft cannon mounted on the trucks opened up with a wall of fire. Although the fusillade missed Hundsdörfer’s Messerschmitt, shells slammed into the second. Hans Dahmen’s 109 went down out of control and crashed in flames..."

Photo portrait of Dahmen sold for 89 euros.