"Assi"
Hahn was the clown who became a pilot. There are many amusing
stories - true or not - surrounding this colorful person. Those,
who did not know him and saw him acting like a clown, could impossible
think of him as one of the most capable pilots in the German Fighter
Arm. But Hahn was much up of a double nature. In air combat he
became a formidable death-machine, far from any joke.
In his first dogfight, on May 14, 1940, he shot down two British
Hurricanes. During the next 15 months he achieved another 40 aerial
victories. On September 24, 1940 No. 30 was shot down and the
first of July 1941 he was credited with 40 victories. Even if
he was far from a "Prussian officer", "Assi"
was promoted to be the leader of III./JG 2 and responsible for
the air defense of Paris, at a time when the major parts of the
Luftwaffe where transferred to the Eastern Front.