Greek aces, fighter pilots in foreign cockpits – Four stories of heroes

From World War I to the flights with modern jet fighters were all present. Unique stories of courage, heroism, sacrifice and devotion to the idea of ​​aviation reveal a voluntary effort of Greek researchers, which searches in all four corners of the globe Greek pilots who have written their own page in the global aviation family.

“It all started with my love for the Air Force and my study of it, through which I discovered many Greek names in foreign literature. This is how the whole effort of Greeks in Foreign Cockpits started. We have been researching all these stories for 21 years now through a very dynamic research “, said Mr. Dimitris Vassilopoulos, project manager and creator of the page www.greeks-in-, speaking on the radio of APE BPE,” Agency 104.9FM ” foreign-cockpits.com on the internet and social media.

“We are not professional researchers, we do not live from this effort, but maybe this is the reason why something so good has come out, we do it with love and passion,” says Mr. Vasilopoulos. Together with his collaborators Kyriakos Paloulian and George Chalkiadopoulos, Mr. Vassilopoulos explains that their team has created an archive in which hundreds of Greeks have now been registered in the cockpits of foreign fighter jets.

“Now information is coming from everywhere. We get to the point of not knowing who to write about, who to refer to on the site and to whom in the books we are preparing “, confesses the Greek researcher who explains that the effort has many challenges. “For example, they needed and still need communications with the archives of other countries such as the USA. We worked through relatives’ archives and through the national archives of Britain, Australia and Canada. We often paid a researcher, who undertook to look in these files and in order to reduce the cost of many things, such as pagination, we did it ourselves “, he explains.

Pilots of Greek origin, he notes, we had in all wars. “From the First World War. to Korea, Vietnam, the “Gulf War”. We have come in contact with many of the most modern ones, while several are already presented through our website “, notes Mr. Vassilopoulos, with the research team trying from time to time to transfer to paper the history of separate flyers.

Where do pilots of Greek origin come from?

Most of the pilots with Greek roots actually had the USA in the previous decades, where the Greek community is huge. In the second year come Britain, Australia and Canada. But how many Greeks do the aces of the ethers “feel”?

“What has impressed me the most is how proud these pilots were of their Greek origin. If they were Greeks? But, Greeks felt more even than us …! “, Mr. Vasilopoulos answers. “They may have flown with the American air force, for example, but inside they had a very strong feeling of the Greek conscience. “Many of them even painted either drawings or words that indicated their Greek origin,” he says. “Spyros Karavidas had on his plane a bag called” Air “, the American Diamond Mitchell wrote on the plane” The Flying Greek “, there are many examples…”, he adds.

After 21 years of work, extensive chapters have been written in the books for 25 to 30 pilots, another 50 have been researched for the purposes of the website but to a lesser extent, while basic data have been recorded for at least 700 more people. “Every three to four years we publish a large book with bibliographies, drawings, paintings. “Until today, we focused mainly on the period of the Second World War”, the researcher explains.

The emotion and pride of the family

“Most relatives are moved when they learn that we are writing to them from Greece. “Especially as far as those who fought in the BPP are concerned. It is an incredible amount that they strongly maintain the Greek national consciousness in parallel with the American one”, explains Mr. Vassilopoulos, who describes moments that have been engraved in his memory. “We experienced a lot of emotions. I particularly remember Robert Vrilakas, an American Air Force pilot from Crete, who encouraged me to continue my research and not to be disappointed if I encountered obstacles. In fact, because he was flying from North Africa and Italy, he also flew on a mission over Athens and he told me how excited he was to see Greece from above… “, the Greek researcher describes.

Was it everyone’s desire to fly over their country of origin? “Many of them flew into the Greek skies, especially those flying from Africa and Italy. Some like Frank Zavakos asked to be transferred to Greek Squadrons while one succeeded. We are also preparing a tribute for him on our website “, he answers.

As for the air… saraki, it seems that the flight many times “flowed” in the Greek blood. “We had a case where the father was flying to Vietnam and the son was then flying to Afghanistan with the US Navy; moving… “replies Mr. Vassilopoulos.

Among the many cases of pilots of Greek descent who wrote their own distinct story in air combat, researchers have singled out four faces of heroic aces.

Four stories of heroes

Harry Coronios: He came from Kladas, a village located near Sparta. He served as P-47D pilot in the 56thFG and his personal aircraft had named him “The Greek”. On 8/10/1943, on a mission escorted by bombers, he shot down an FW-190 and damaged another. He was killed on 17/11/1943 during a training flight due to ice on the control surfaces.

Ο John Escaped: He came from Lagadia, in the Prefecture of Arcadia. He served in the 348thFG flying a P-47D. During training he had an accident with the P-47C 41-6083 when he landed it forgetting to lower the landing legs. Harry Coronios had an accident with the same plane a month earlier at another airport. Lolos fought on the Southwest Pacific front and won the ace title with 5 shots.

Ο Spiros Karavedas: He came from Varvasaina in the prefecture of Ilia. He served in the 58thFG flying a P-47D which he had named “The Greek Guerilla” and which depicted a well-to-do man shouting “Air”. Karavidas fought on the South-Western Pacific front, carrying out countless artillery / bombardment missions against Japanese ground targets.

Ο John Agorastos Plagis: Born March 10, 1919 in Hartley, Southern Rhodesia, he was the son of Greek immigrants. His father and mother came from the villages of Kontia and Plati in Lemnos, respectively. During FP2 he enlisted in the RAF, trained as a Spitfire pilot and took part in fierce air battles over Malta and later in mainland Europe. It succeeded in shooting down 17 German and Italian aircraft.

The photos were provided by the Athenian Agency