From: thunder@rmii.com (Ed Rasimus)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.military
Subject: Re: Greek fighters
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 14:07:40 GMT

patrik.svensson@mailbox.swipnet.se (Patrik Svensson) wrote:

>Hi,
>Me and a friend have a question about what kind of obsolete figters
>that is based near the Athen international airport. Due to extensive
>security we could not examine the aircraft closely but from our view
>the aircraft could be described as follows:

Since you say based "near" Athens international airport, I assume you
mean a military base which would be Tanagra AB located N. of Athens
which was the home to the GAF squadrons of Mirage F-1s a few years
ago.

>Airframw with maybe two air-intakes in front and swept wing with
>pylons at the tip. Exhaustion at the end of airframe with stabilizator
>right above exhaustion like a Swedish J32 or a Hawker Hunter.
>As stated above the looked like a Hawker Hunter except for the
>wingtips that seemed to have bulbs or pylons for fuel.
>One tip that we we have is that it is a BAE Strikemaster but we have
>no knowledge that it is exported to Greece.

The GAF may be the most efficient of all NATO air forces in their use
of camoflage, deception, subduing and decoying at their military
airfields. Runways are subdued and buildings (even structures under
construction) are painted in earth tones and random camo patterns.
Netting is in use on a variety of support facilities and much of the
command/control is hardened, bunkered or underground partially. Rapid
runway repair kits are deployed along the length of the runway for
immediate access.

Virtually ALL operational aircraft are under cover except when they
are moving. Any aircraft you see as you pass the airfield is a decoy,
non-operational. Some are plywood and oil drum mockups but most are
obsolete aircraft from the inventory which have been gutted for all
valuable components and then deployed around the airfield. You might
see F-86s, F-84s, F-100s, Hunters, F-104s, F-5s, Mirage 3/5s and now
there might be F-4s, A-7s and who knows what else.

It represents a very serious military making the most of every
resource they have. I was very impressed with the entire force as well
as the senior staff that I had the privilege to work with several
years ago.


 Ed Rasimus                   *** Peak Computing Magazine
  Fighter Pilot (ret)         ***   (http://peak-computing.com)
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