[John P Cooper]

HI,

The following is from The Luftwaffe in Scale website http://www.rlm.at/start_e.htm You may want to seek out Christian Jakl who knows Axel Dortenmann.

Hans Dortenmann was born on the 11th December 1921 in Weingarten, Baden- Württemberg. He began his military career in the infantry and transferred to the Luftwaffe in April of 1941. After flight training, Hans Dortenmann was transferred to the Eastern Front to fly with JG54. On April 9th 1943 he crashed after a high altitude flight near Toulouse and spent four weeks in a military hospital. His wounds were serious and his right leg remained fairly stiff. Despite this he continued to fly for the Luftwaffe. He scored his first victory on the 6th of February 1944. On the 10th of June 1944, 2./JG54 was transferred from the Eastern to the Western Front and became III./JG54.

Up to this point Hans Dortenmann was able to accumulate 16 victories. On June 20th 1944, Hans Dortenmann became Staffelkapitan of 2./JG54 and later 12./JG 54. At the end of December 1944 III./JG54 under the leadership of Robert Weiss (121 victories, RK- EL, killed in aerial combat on December 29th 1944) was equipped with 68 Fw190 D-9's and attached to JG26. On December 29th 1944, Dortenmann was witness to Gruppenkommandeur Robert 'Bazi' Weiss's death in combat. He was also a witness to the deadly crash of Major Walter Nowotny.

Hans Dortenmann became Gruppenkommandeur i.V. of III./JG54 from December 30th until February 11th 1945. On the 19th of February 1945, 12./JG54 was dissolved and the surviving pilots were reassigned to III./JG54. Dortenmann took over command of 11./JG54. On February 25th, 11./JG54 was transferred to JG26. Dortenmann's 11./JG54 became 14./JG26. On March 29th, Oberleutnant took over 3./JG26 and on April 20th he was awarded the Knights Cross for 35 victories. During his last mission on April 27th 1945 he shot down a Yak-3. He was a POW of the British but was released soon due to his old wounds. He studied architecture and had a successful career in that branch in Heidelberg.

Hunting had been a tradition in his family. His grandfather was a district official for the Hunt and Hans Dortenmann was also an enthusiastic hunter. On April 1st 1973 he died. In 150 missions, Oberleutnant Dortenmann achieved 38 victories, 16 on the Eastern Front and 22 on the Western Front including a B-17 Flying Fortress. He had the reputation of a daredevil and opened fire on his opponent from a very close distance. Despite this he was a prudent Staffelkapitan who often contradicted his superiors when the enemy numbers were overwhelming. His Staffel was thankful and they appreciated his talents.

Regards

John