On Friday, May 5th the ceremony for the suspension of the 348th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (TRS) and the withdrawal of the RF-4E Phantom II took place at the 110th Combat Wing at the Larisa Air Base. The Chief of the Hellenic Armed Forces, Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis (HN), and the Chief of the Hellenic Air Force General Staff, Lt. General Chrostos Christodoulou, opened the ceremony with their welcoming speeches. Amongst those present at the ceremony were the Chief of the Hellenic Tactical Air Force, Lt. General Georgios Blioumis, the Commander of the 1st Army, Lt. General Dimokritos Terzakis, the Special Secretariat of the Ministry of Defense, Kalliopi Papaleonida, high ranked officials of the Hellenic Air Force, Delegations of the Hellenic Armed and Security Forces, honorary Chiefs of the Hellenic Armed Forces General Staff, the Hellenic Air Force and the Hellenic Tactical Air Force, representatives of the local political and religious communities, current and retired staff of the Hellenic Air Force which served at the 348th TRS, as well as a large amount of public guests.
The 335 Squadron of 112 Combat Wing, equipped with F-84 G Thunderjet type aircraft, placed a photo camera on one of the tip tanks. The results were satisfactory and this led to the delivery of the RT-33A type aircraft, that is to say, a T-33A aircraft with cameras on its modified nose.The new aircraft urged the 335 Squadron to form the 348 Tactical Reconnaissance Flight, which, on the 7th of July 1954, was relocated at 110CW in Larissa, and after being supplied with new RT-33A, upgraded to Squadron.
These aircraft were replaced with the new RF-84F Thunderflash, which, the Hellenic Air Force, first among the NATO countries acquired, in August 1956 and the RT-33A were given to the Armeé de l’ Air. Until autumn of 1978, the RF-84F aircraft were the only type of the Squadron’s aircraft. Then the RF-4E Phantom II were acquired, which led HAF in the new era of air reconnaissance. On March 29th 1991, the RF-84F aircraft were withdrawn after 34 years of active service, leaving in the Squadron’s inventory very few RF-4Es, just enough to form a flight. However in August 1993, their number was increased with the addition of RF-4E granted by Luftwaffe. On May 5 2017, the 348TRS stopped operating and RF-4E were withdrawn after almost 40 years of active service.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We wish to thank a lot the Maj.Lambros Tolias.
Text info: Hellenic Air Force
Pictures: Ab-AviationRepoter
