Hans Dortenmann is the Luftwaffe's top scoring "Dora" ace with 18 confirmed victories in his Fw190-D and 38 victories total in 190's.
Oberleutnant Dortenmann was appointed Staffelkapitän of 3./JG 26. On 17 April he shot down a Hawker Tempest SW of Lübeck for his 35th victory. Three days later he was awarded the Knight’s Cross on 20 April. It was the last major decoration bestowed upon a member of JG 26.
As the Eastern and Western Fronts merged over the German capital JG 26 began to encounter Soviet aircraft. Dortenmann scored his final two victories of the war on 26 and 27 April. Both of his victims were Russian Yak-3 fighters. On 4 May 1945 Oberleutnant Dortenmann led I./ JG 26 on a fighter sweep to the Kiel Canal. It was the last combat mission for JG 26.
He destroyed his Dora in which had survived in combat since the previous autumn rather than let it fall into enemy hands. Hans was made a prisoner of the British but was soon released. After the war Dortenmann became an architect based in Heidelberg. He passed away in 1973.
27 сен 2020
