Rhodes Maritsa REQ please

[graham]

Just got home from Rhodes, on the 14th September we went to the summit of Ialyssos which overlooks both airports. There were several helis on the deck at the old Maritsa airport including a Chinook. Neither ADU nor PlaneBase has a base list, would anyone know what is based there please?

[davebasing]

Hi Graham. Due to it's proximity to Turkey the Greek Army bases a handful of helicopters at Maritsa detached from their home units on the mainland. Traditionally these have been a mix of CH47s and AH64s, normally only about a couple of each. There is also a fire fighting operation based there with helos and small fixed wing types. In July this year a Mil 8 from Maritsa crashed off Samos where it hade been deployed on actual fire fighting duty, reportedly Moldovan registered. Given how touchy the Greeks are its perhaps unsurprising that reports from Maritsa are rare despite the number of enthusiasts who no doubt holiday on the island. There is a T33 (serial 29962) preserved/stored beside the old terminal.

[graham]

Many thanks Dave, I did see what looked like a pair of Apaches but wasn't certain enough to say so. I only had a 300mm lens, I thought that taking the 500mm might arouse suspicion. There were also two solid yellow helis but it was impossible to get a make on the types at that distance.

On the coach transfer to the airport, the main road runs parallel with the runway for about a kilometre and I was very surprised to see 3 or 4 guys there with big lenses, and one with a stepladder taking photos. If I'd done that in Crete I'd be in a cell by now. No idea whether they were locals but I can't see a non local taking an aluminium stepladder on holiday....;-)

[cornwall01]

Hi Graham

I was in Rhodes last September and went to the same viewing point as you. There were 2 AH-64’s, a CH-47, a Kamov 32, a US Skycrane and a Beech 200 there. The T-33 was on the ramp and two wrecked light aircraft which I believe are SX-AFO MS-894 and SX-AGK PA-34.

I did manage to get one of the AH-64’s a few days later when it was flying low around the coastline. The US Skycrane left for another Greek Island later that week and showed up on one of the tracking apps and the Beech 200 was flying around a lot in the week although it was showing on apps with a US reg (it was Greek Air Force 401).

I believe the helicopters are stopped about every three months or so and are on detachment from the mainland.

Hope that helps.

Ray

[graham]

Many thanks Ray and Dave, I believe the T-33 was originally marooned at the old Athens Ellinikon airport along with several other aircraft, I have that 29962 reg as logged there in 2009.

I have posted a REQ over on Fighter Control Group but no response as of yet.

[davebasing]

T33 29962 was indeed formerly one of the ground instructional frames at Hellinikon from at least 1991 until it was moved to Maritsa. Wonder if you meant 1999 as the last note I can find of it at Hellinikon was in 2001. Problem also is that its first report at Maritsa was in 2004 and after that in almost all subsequent years up to the present. Like their Italian counterparts however (its hard to find an extant Italian G91 or F104 where the front and back halves share the same serial) the Greek apprentices probably also suffered from the Ikea disease (I've put it back together sir but I've got these bits left over) or the Eric Morecambe disease (All the right parts but not necessarily in the right order). 29962 seems to have at some stage acquired the fin (or possibly just the rudder) from 51577 which is another ex Hellinikon instructional T33 broken up there some years ago after it had itself acquired the rudder of 16577. Fortunately the buzz number on the noses of the T Birds remained with the correct last 3, though with an obvious conflict between 51577 & 16577. Did you by chance also read 962 on the nose if it was indeed noted in 2009 and you can remember (well done if you can, I can't even remember what I had for breakfast today)?

52-9962 was a former USAF machine, latterly with their training unit at Furstenfeldbruck in Germany from where it passed to the German AF in 1957 and then, in 1971, to Greece. The next aircraft off the line (29963) went to the French AF under the military assistance programme and, as required by the programme, was returned to the USAF at Sculthorpe in 1978. The USAF then loaned it to the Cardiff museum where I photographed it in 1980. After the museum closed in 1996 it was sadly broken up in 1998 with the USAF present - as they "owned" it - to confirm its destruction.

T33 by dave tompkins, on Flickr

Just a few places forward on the production line was 29958. That went to the Yugoslav AF as serial 10024 and was converted to a reconnaissance IT-33 with an extended nose for the cameras. I graphed that one in the superb Belgrade Museum in 2013.

IMG_8937 by dave tompkins, on Flickr

[graham]

Hi Dave and thanks for all the great info. You are right - it was 1999 when I caught the T-33 at Ellinikon, the date is correct in my log, I just typed in 2009 for some reason whilst composing the post above.

I have now uploaded all the holiday photos to Flickr and on editing and cropping the couple I took of Maritsa from up on high, I can see now that the two yellow "helis" are in fact floatplanes and you can also see the Russian type heli, the Chinook, the two Apaches and the T-33. Looks like there's a fair bit of stuff on the dump too. If I'd had the 500mm lens, I could've read the serial of the Russian type chopper but with the 300mm, it is blurred at maximum magnification.

IMG_2277 by Graham Brown, on Flickr

IMG_2278 by Graham Brown, on Flickr

[davebasing]

Hi Graham - Blowing up your Mil 8 it looked to me like ER-MHZ which i) is a known fire bomber; (ii) the based one that crashed in July was also Moldovan; but crucially iii) see the video of this aircraft actually in Rhodes earlier this month -

[graham]

Fabulous Dave, many thanks for your help, just the Apaches, Chinook and seaplanes to go now....;0) We drove down to Kiotari last week and then up the winding road to Asklepio where the fire was.

[davebasing]

Sept 25, 2022 8:56:49 GMT graham said:

Fabulous Dave, many thanks for your help, just the Apaches, Chinook and seaplanes to go now....;0)

Seaplanes are Air Tractor AT802s

[graham]

Thanks Dave, I've checked on PlaneBase and there appear to be no SX-registered Air Tractors so they are presumably VH- registered as are those that operate on the Greek mainland