Fighting on the English Channel, he claimed his first aerial victory on 26 August 1941 over a Royal Air Force (RAF) Bristol Blenheim bomber.

Dähne was killed in a flight accident while training on the Heinkel He 162 jet fighter near Warnemünde, Germany on 24 April 1945.

Dähne was 7 July 1921 in Frankfurt an der Oder, at the time in the Province of Brandenburg in the German Empire.

Staffel was commanded by Oberleutnant Karl-Heinz Leesmann and I. Gruppe was led by Hauptmann Wolfgang Ewald.

[4] He had joined the Gruppe following its withdrawal from the English Channel while it was based at Krefeld Airfield for a period of rest and replenishment.

On 26 December, I. Gruppe relocated to an airfield at Katwijk where it was tasked with patrolling the Dutch coast area and German Bight.

[5] On 24 May, Ewald was transferred and in consequence Leesmann was given command I. Gruppe while Oberleutnant Robert Göbel then headed 2.

[6] While based at Langeoog, Dähne claimed his first aerial victory on 26 August when he shot down a Royal Air Force (RAF) Bristol Blenheim bomber north of Juist.

[9][10] Here, Dähne claimed his first aerial victory on the Eastern Front on 18 October when he shot down an Ilyushin DB-3 bomber.

[11] The failed assault on Moscow forced I. Gruppe to retreat to an airfield at Dugino, present-day Novodugino, on 15 December where they stayed until 31 January 1942.

From 8 to 12 February the Gruppe took a train to Jesau near Königsberg, present-day Kaliningrad in Russia, for a period of recuperation and replenishment where they received new Bf 109 F-4 aircraft.

On 24 May, the Gruppe was ordered to relocate to Barvinkove located approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Sloviansk.

[16] On 1 June, the Gruppe then moved to an airfield at Grakowo, located approximately halfway between Kharkov and Kupiansk.

[18] When on 10 May 1943, Bennemann was severely wounded by the explosion of an incendiary bomb at Charkow-Woitschenko Airfield, Wiese was tasked with leading I. Gruppe.

[19] In preparation for Operation Citadel, I. Gruppe was moved to Bessonovka, a makeshift airfield located approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Belgorod on 4 July.

Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 11 (JG 11—11th Fighter Wing) led by Hauptmann Horst-Günther von Fassong.

[34] On 25 September, during Operation Berlin, the evacuation of the remnants of the British 1st Airborne Division, Dähne claimed a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter shot down.

[38] On 24 December, during the Battle of the Bulge, Dähne shot down a Lockheed P-38 Lightning of the Ninth Air Force near Trier.

At 06:30, Fassong briefed his pilots of the operation and that their target would be the Asch Airfield (Designated: Y-29) located north-west of Maastricht.

[41][42] On this mission, Fassong was killed in action and Dähne was shot down in his Fw 190 and bailed out over German held territory.

It was assumed that Dähne had deployed the ejection seat while the aircraft canopy failed to release, smashing his skull.