List of flying aces from Greece

Last updated

This is a list of fighter aces from Greece.

World War I

Greece provided only one flying ace in World War I:

Contents

NameKillsAwardsNotes
Aristeidis Moraitinis 9 [1] DSO, War Cross (Greece)Flew partly with the Hellenic Naval Air Service and partly with the British Royal Navy Air Service.

World War II

Greece had six flying aces in World War II.

NameKillsAwardsNotes
Andreas Antoniou6Greek Squadron Leader, fought during the Greco-Italian War of 1940-41. Served with the 22nd Pursuit Squadron. Flew the PZL P-24.
Panagiotis Argyropoulos5
Marinos Mitralexis 5 Cross of Valour (Greece)Fought in the Greco-Italian War in the 22nd Pursuit Squadron. Bringing an Italian bomber down by ramming its tail made him a popular hero figure. After the fall of Greece, escaped to North Africa and fought with Greek squadron under the Allied Desert Air Force.
Spiros Nickolas "Steve" Pisanos 10 Croix de Guerre (France)Greek immigrant to the United States, fought with RAF and USAAF, and credited with 10 kills with the US 4th Fighter Group (European Theater). Remained with this RAF Eagle Squadron fighter unit rather than join the Royal Hellenic Air Force fighting with the RAF. In March 1944, bailed out over France and was rescued by the French Resistance. As a test pilot post he flew the jet Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. After a stint as a pilot with TWA je returned to USAAF. Flew the Spitfire V, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and North American P-51 Mustang. In 2008 he published The Flying Greek, his autobiography and war memoir. [2]
Ioannis Agorastos "John" Plagis 16DSO, [3] DFC [4] & Bar, [5] DFC (Netherlands) [6] As a child of Greek immigrants in Rhodesia, he flew with the Royal Air Force, 1940-1945. Joined No. 249 Squadron and flew the Spitfire V in defence of Malta. After a period of rest he again flew the Spitfire and later the North American Mustang III in action over Europe. He was the highest-scoring ace of Greek nationality. Post-war he adopted British nationality and remained in the RAF flying the Gloster Meteor. After retirement he returned to Rhodesia where he later committed suicide. [7]
Basilios Michael Vassilios "Vass" Vassiliades10DFC, DFMA Greek from the island of Chios, born in 1920. He was a student in UK at the time war broke out and unable to return home he volunteered for the RAF. Credited with 11+1/2 victories, awarded the DFC and DFM. Fought over Europe (France, D-Day, Germany) and killed in action 25 March 1945 during a ground attack. His death is mentioned in The Big Show (Le Grand Cirque) written by the French ace Pierre Clostermann with whom he occasionally shared a plane while based in Volkel, the Netherlands. He flew Spitfire Mk.V, the Mustang III and Hawker Tempest V. He became the second Greek ace retaining Greek nationality. He is also the only Greek pilot to have his name remembered on the Air Forces Memorial, Runnymede. [8]
John Lolos5 DFC, AM Fought in the South West Pacific flying P-47 Thunderbolts with 341st Fighter Squadron, 348th Fighter Group. He claimed five Japanese Zeros and Hamps in New Guinea. [9]

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Guttman, Jon (23 September 1998). "Air Attack Over the Dardanelles". History Net. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  2. ↑ Mansolas, Yiannis & Angelos (2014). "Spiros "Steve" Pisanos: The Flying Greek". imansolas.freeservers.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  3. ↑ "No. 36777". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 October 1944. p. 5034.
  4. ↑ "No. 35542". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 April 1942. p. 1904.
  5. ↑ "No. 35621". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 July 1942. p. 2979.
  6. ↑ "No. 37758". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 October 1946. pp. 5079–5080.
  7. ↑ "Johnny Plagis". Aces of WW2.com. 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  8. ↑ Mansolas, Yiannis & Angelos (2007). "Vassiliades Vassilios". imansolas.freeservers.com. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  9. ↑ "John Lolos – 348th Fighter Group P-47 Pilot". Pacific Wrecks. 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2016.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lance C. Wade</span> British World War II flying ace

Wing Commander Lance Cleo "Wildcat" Wade DSO, DFC & Two Bars was an American pilot who joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War and became a flying ace. He remained with RAF until his death in a flying accident in 1944 in Italy. He was described as a "distinguished American fighter ace who epitomized perhaps more than any other American airman the wartime accords between Britain and the United States".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Vale</span>

William "Cherry" Vale, was a Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter pilot and flying ace of the Second World War. He was credited with 30 enemy aircraft shot down, shared in the destruction of three others, and claimed 6 damaged and another two shared damaged. His 20 kills achieved while flying the Hawker Hurricane and his 10 with the Gloster Gladiator made him the second highest scoring Hurricane and biplane pilot in the RAF, in both cases after Marmaduke Pattle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Kingaby</span>

Donald Ernest Kingaby, was a Royal Air Force (RAF) aviator and flying ace of the Second World War. He was the only person to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal three times.

Henry Winslow Woollett, was a British flying ace and the highest scoring British balloon busting ace credited with 35 aerial victories, including eleven balloons, during the First World War. He continued to serve in the Royal Air Force until the 1930s.

Squadron Leader William Harrop was a British World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories while flying as an enlisted observer. He returned to RAF service in World War II, attaining the rank of squadron leader.

Robert Samuel Herring was a British officer who served in the Army and the Royal Air Force in both World Wars. In World War I he became a flying ace, and spent most of World War II as a prisoner of the Japanese.

Group Captain Charles Henry Chapman Woollven was a British professional soldier who began his military career during World War I. He became a flying ace credited with five aerial victories while piloting a two-seater FE.2b into combat. Postwar, he remained in the Royal Air Force, rising through the officer's ranks while holding increasingly more important posts during the 1920s and 1930s. By 1938, on the eve of World War II, he was a wing commander. Promoted to the rank of group captain by war's end, he retired in 1947.

Lieutenant Thomas Archibald Mitford Stuart Lewis was a British World War I flying ace credited with six aerial victories.

Air Vice Marshal Arthur Stanley Gould Lee, was a senior officer of the Royal Air Force (RAF). He began his flying career in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, scoring seven confirmed victories to become a flying ace and rising to the rank of captain. He continued his service in the RAF, serving throughout the Second World War before retiring in 1946 to devote himself to writing, including several volumes of autobiography.

Squadron Leader David Mary Tidmarsh was an Irish-born flying ace of the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War, credited with seven aerial victories.

Wing Commander Edwin Swale was an English First World War flying ace credited with 17 aerial victories. His victory list is notable because he scored 14 of his 17 wins against the premier German fighter of the war, the Fokker D.VII, and became the leading Sopwith Camel ace of No. 210 Squadron RAF.

Sergeant Ernest Arthur Deighton was an English World War I observer/gunner flying ace credited with 15 confirmed aerial victories; all but one of them was against enemy fighters.

Group Captain Gilbert Ware Murlis Green, was a Royal Air Force career officer credited with eight aerial victories. He was a pioneer among fighter aces, and his victories were scored in a variety of theatres and flying environments. He was successful on both the Western Front, in Greece, and on his home soil. He also commanded two of the original night fighter squadrons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert L. Chidlaw-Roberts</span>

Flight Lieutenant Robert Leslie Chidlaw-Roberts was a British World War I flying ace credited with ten aerial victories. During his aerial combat career, and in different dogfights, he engaged two famous German aces; he was one of the British pilots who downed Werner Voss, and on 9 January 1918, he shot down and killed Max Ritter von Muller.

Squadron Leader Walter Macfarlane Carlaw was a Scottish flying ace who served during World War I, and was credited with 12 confirmed aerial victories. He returned to RAF service during World War II.

Wing Commander William Hastings Farrow was a British World War I flying ace credited with 10 aerial victories. He would pursue a military career well into the 1920s before resigning in 1926. Like many World War I aces, he returned to the military for World War II, and was honoured by induction into the Order of the British Empire.

Squadron Leader Standish Conn O'Grady was an Irish flying ace of the First World War, credited with nine aerial victories. He returned to military service, serving as an instructor, during the Second World War. A civil engineer by profession, he later became a lecturer at Durham University.

Thomas Frederick Dalton-Morgan, was a fighter pilot and flying ace of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He flew during the Battle of Britain, and is counted amongst the ranks of 'The Few'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Plagis</span> Southern Rhodesian WWII flying ace (1919–1974)

Ioannis Agorastos "John" Plagis, DSO, DFC & Bar (1919–1974) was a Southern Rhodesian flying ace in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War, noted especially for his part in the defence of Malta during 1942. The son of Greek immigrants, he was accepted by recruiters only after Greece joined the Allies in late 1940. Following spells with No. 65 Squadron and No. 266 (Rhodesia) Squadron, he joined No. 249 Squadron in Malta in March 1942. Flying Spitfire Mk Vs, Plagis was part of the multinational group of Allied pilots that successfully defended the strategically important island against numerically superior Axis forces over the next few months. Flying with No. 185 Squadron from early June, he was withdrawn to England in early July 1942.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.