 The 13th ”Hellenic Squadron” A brief History
Colour side views of the aircraft used by the 13th Hellenic Sq. 13th Hellenic Sq. Bristol Blenheim serial Nos 13th Hellenic Sq. Martin Baltimore serial Nos 13th Hellenic Sq. Vickers Wellington serial Nos One of the historic units of the Hellenic Air Force was the "13th Light Bombing Squadron" as it was named on its establishment in This was the first Squadron of the Royal Hellenic Air Force to be established outside The Squadron came under British command, as did the two other R.H.A.F squadrons (the 335th and the 336th Fighter sqns) that were established later. Initially it was incorporated in 201 Group, R.A.F. First equipment of the Squadron were 5 Avro Ansons Mk I, formerly belonging to the 13th Naval co-operation Squadron.These had being flown to Egypt after the collapse of resistance in Greece, in April 1941.  One
of
the
5 Avro Ansons that escaped to the Middle East
The
aircraft identities were:
N51, N52, N55, N56 and N61. Later they will acquire British serials as follows: ΑΧ750 (Ν51) ΑΧ751(Ν52) ΑΧ749 (Ν55) ΑΧ748 (Ν56) ΑΧ761 (Ν61) A great
number of former RHAF personnel of all ranks, had managed to escape
occupied
Greece and made their way to Egypt.They were to provide the nucleus of
the
Greek Air Force in exile.
Τ2049The newly established 13th Light Bombing Squadron, was in a way the re-incarnation of the 13th Naval co-operation Sqn. and the 32nd Bomber Sqn., since all its aircraft came from the former unit, and its personnel from both dissolved squadrons. Immediately after its establishment, a great effort was made to organize it into a proper combat squadron, because in the beginning, the small number of personnel and aircraft in charge, made it a flight, rather than a squadron. The training was intensive and continuous, despite the great difficulties due to the obsolete aircraft, their unsuitable armament, the harsh living conditions in the desert and the shortage of personnel. The first combat mission of the Squadron took place in July 14, 1941 and was an anti-submarine patrol. This was flown in Anson N56 with the crew of: Sqn.Ldr S.Dakopoulos, F.Sgt S.Papadopoulos and Sgt P.Makris. Training and anti-submarine patrols continued until November of 1941, when the Squadron was ordered to move to Mariyut near These came from 108 MU and were the following: Ζ9793 and Ζ8529 These
aircraft were in poor
condition, they demanded long maintenance and were not what the
airmen of
13th had expected. But, they had to make do. R.A.F
Command had
nothing else to spare.
After initial training with the ”new” aircraft, the Squadron started patrols and convoy escort duties in the On January 1942 the Squadron moved again, this time to LG 86 where it stayed until January the next year. More Blenheims kept arriving and gradually the Ansons, which until then had soldiered on, were phased out because of the lack of spares and insurmountable maintenance problems. Convoy escort and anti-submarine patrols were the main missions of the Squadron for the whole of 1942 and these were accomplished in the best possible way. In many occasions, enemy submarines were spotted and duly attacked by the Blenheims of the Squadron.  King George of Greece visits the 13th Squadron in LG 86.In the background Blenheim IV V6149. On July
28 Blenheim IV Z9550, crew: Plt Off I.Papoutsis,
Lt Papadiamantopoulos and Sgt F.Saridis, while on convoy escort duty,
hit a
large enemy submarine forcing it to crash-dive North of Port Said.
Similar incidents were to be repeated in numerous other missions. In July the Squadron moved to The contribution of the 13th Light Bombing Squadron to the Allied effort was significant, helping in the protection of convoys, so vital for the operations in the North African front. In August, another 13th Sq. Blenheim, this time with crew: W.O Galanakos, Plt Off Karayannis, and F.Sgt Gounelakis, spotted an enemy submarine near the convoy which they were protecting. They immediately attacked with depth charges. In October, again Plt Off Papoutsis,Captain Stavreas and F.Sgt Makris, in Blenheim IV Z6446 surprised an enemy sub, hitting it with four depth charges from a height of 10 ft! During the same month, it was the turn of W.O Galanakos, Plt Off Patsis and F.Sgt Gounelakis, in Blenheim IV V6257. They successfully bombed an enemy sub, observing a large oil spot in the position where the sub had dived. Records show that in August 1942, the axis submarines in the  One of the Squadron's Bisleys prepares for a mission. To this end the 13th
"Hellenic Squadron" ,
as it was called in the R.A.F, helped with all
its resources.
Soon, the first Blenheim Vs, or Bisleys were received and the Squadron started training on the type. This version of the Blenheim had better performance and better bombing capabilities. Operational flying continued until November 1942, when the Squadron left New movement in the beginning of 1943, this time to LG 07 between Marsa Matruh and Sidi Barrani. During this time because of the shortage of personnel of certain qualifications, it was decided to establish two training schools. These were the The performance during the operations and the training of the Squadron was appreciated by the R.A.F Command which promised to send more aircraft. This promise was fulfilled on April of ’43, with 7 more Bisleys. The arrival of newer aircraft contributed to the increase of missions flown, reduced the accident rate and gave a boost to the morale of the personnel. The 13th Hellenic Squadron was among the 3 squadrons of 201 Group with the less accidents, the other two being 252 Sqn. and 459 Sqn. Again on the road in August, this time for Gambut (Derna) in In September, the time came for the Squadron to acquire an aircraft worth of the expectations and certainly the abilities of its airmen. After many requests of the RHAF leadership to the R.A.F for a more potent aircraft, the latter decided to replace the Bisleys of the 13th Hellenic Squadron with Martin A30 Baltimores. These aircraft were ordered by the R.A.F from the  Baltimores covered for protection against the desert sun in the flightline of the 13th Hellenic Squadron in Gambut. There could be no real comparison between the
The first aircraft to arrive were 4 Mk IVs:It was much faster, heavily armed and carried a much heavier weapons load. It had a top speed of Many of the aircraft received were brand new, and did not come from other R.A.F squadrons, as was the norm until then. FA 439”W” FA 483”B” FA 607”Z” and FA 608”C” Three more followed the next day: FA 490”S” FA 463”Y” and FA 654”X” Intensive training started on the new type both in
various OTUs and on the newly received aircraft.
At the same time a number of British Warrant Officers and Flight Sergeants were attached to the Squadron, as air gunners and wireless operators. Immediately the qualities of the new aircraft were put to the test.For the first time, along with the anti-submarine patrols and convoy escorts, offensive reconnaissance and even attacks on the occupied Greek islands and other targets were undertaken. In one of these attacks on November 12,
These were: By the end of 1943, the 13th Hellenic
Squadron had logged 1302 combat missions and 4550 flying hours. Certainly not a bad record.
In the spring of 1944 the Squadron received the order to move to a new theatre of operations. Destination this time : First, the personnel and vehicles of the Squadron were moved by sea, and then the aircraft followed, after a thorough inspection in 107 MU in The new base was Biferno, near the town of Here, the 13th came under the 3rd South African Wing. From Biferno the Squadron started to fly for the first time exclusively in bombing missions. Targets were military facilities, harbours, bridges, factories and railway junctions in German occupied Italian territory. There were many successful missions in Pedaso, Fabriano, Civittanova, Porto Recanate, etc.  "Bull's eye" on the istallations of Ancona harbour, June 21, 1944.  Railway
station
in
Luga , Jugoslavia gets the treatment
from
the
Squadron's Baltimores.
In
June, the area of operations was expanded to include the whole of
In the same month the Squadron had to move again, this time to The missions over This became evident on July 28 1944, when six Over the target, one of the aircraft : FW452”D” with crew Flt Lt Angelidis, W.O Molyvadas, Plt Off Anastasiou and F.Sgt W.Aldridge, got hit by flak and caught fire. By coincidence this was a stand-by aircraft, replacing another W.O Molyvadas and Plt Off Anastasiou were caught by the Germans and spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft III.  Entry from the O.R.B of 13th Sq.
recording the fateful Sarajevo mission.
Τhe
missions continued
daily with ”maximum effort” and no break, until the end of
October.
In November 1944, the long awaited return to the liberated Homeland became a reality after more than three years of absence. On the 14th of that month, 16 The return to Operationally, all three Greek Squadrons were under 337 Wing R.A.F based in Hasani airfield.  13th Sq. crews in front of their "Balts" after their arrival in Greece.Aircraft "F" is FW453 with 72 missions marked on its nose, and in the backround FW555 "G". The political situation in It was obvious that the Hellenic Air Force, which started to take its first post-war steps, was going to need all the aircraft in its inventory, especially the But, contrary to all reason, the Squadron was ordered to hand over these aircraft and exchange them with….Vickers This change which was opposed by the Command of the Air Force and most vigorously by the leadership of the Squadron, was imposed by the British government, from which the aircraft were acquired in the first place and was their legal owner. The consequences of his decision, will hamper the Air Force’s war effort in the following years. The Then, lacking a dedicated ground attack aircraft, the task to dislodge the communist forces from their fortified positions in the mountains of So, the The Sadly, their introduction to the 13th Squadron’s inventory was accompanied by two fatal accidents, and some other minor incidents, that did nothing to dispel the dislike the crews had developed for the aircraft. The Finally, the glorious history of the 13th Hellenic Squadron came to an end. It was unceremoniously transformed from a bombing squadron, to a transport one. Along with its role, it changed its name: from now on it will be called ”355 Transport Squadron”. Surely, an unfitting end for one of the most combat-hardened units of the Hellenic Air Force. No convincing reason has been given for the transformation of the 13th Squadron, especially at a time when it had a lot to offer (in its original role and with suitable equipment). The Squadron’s ”nature” and its past experience, will soon come to the fore when in the civil war, as 355 Transport Squadron , some of its Dakotas will be hastily modified to …drop bombs out of the cargo door!! Over the years, the Hellenic Air Force reorganised, re-equipped, grew in size and today is one of the biggest and more modern in New combat units were established and others were de-activated or disbanded, according to the operational needs. It would be appropriate for the History and traditions of this Service, if a new unit takes the honourable name of the ”13th Squadron”. *At this period, a problem arose by the fact that there were two squadrons in the R.A.F bearing the number 13, the first being the No 13 Squadron which was the ”original” and the other , the Greek 13th .In all official references the second unit was called ”Hellenic” and the letter "H" was appropriately placed after the Squadron’s number.This did not prevent many misunderstandings and the confusing of the two units.Things did not improve when at one point both squadrons operated in the Mediterranean, both flying Baltimores! Many years later, researchers and historians still confuse the two squadrons. Back 
*These aircraft were the first to
arrive in Greece on the 14th of November 1944.
Copyright M.Solanakis 2002 |
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