Page 133 - Airpower in 20th Century - Doctrines and Employment

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royal HelleniC air forCe (rHaf) during world war ii. organization and operations

The RHAF in the Middle East

In order to organise the gradual arrival of the RHAF personnel in Egypt, a special
Reception Depot was raised in Gaza. The RHAF delivered 2 Gloster Gauntlets and
one Gloster Gladiator, which together with the Avro Tutor 621s offered the possibil-
ity to the inactive aircrews to engage in some flying training activity.
The Air Ministry had been established in Cairo and Group Captain P. Vilos, DSO
was assigned as a liaison officer of the RHAF with the RAF. The Hellenic commu-
nity in Egypt and the Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria showed great interest.
The first step for the reorganisation of the RHAF in the Middle East was the for-
mation of the Higher Air Command (HAC), temporarily based in Cairo. The organi-
zational structure of the RHAF in the Middle East included, under the Air Ministry,
the General Directorate with three Directorates (personnel, logistics and Technical
Services) and the Air Force Recruiting Office, while under the HAC the Staff and the
17
Technical Directorate .
Given that independent training on the part of the RHAF was precluded due to lack
of sufficient infrastructure, training had to be undertaken in the RAF Flying Training
Schools in Africa. Staff Officers of the Air Ministry, under Wing Commander K.
Platsis, DFC went to South Africa and Southern Rhodesia in order to investigate the
possibility of RHAF personnel to be trained there.
The training of the RHAF flying personnel in RHAF training section in Southern
Rhodesia, was organised along the lines of the Royal Air Force and included the
following stages: pre-preparatory, preparatory, initial, further and advanced training.
Selected trainees (aged between 18 and 31) satisfied strict criteria so far as their over-
all performance and physical condition were concerned. Command of English was
a prerequisite for admittance and hence language courses were intensively taught in
parallel with training. RHAF qualified pilots, were also required to be retrained in
the new types of RAF aircraft scheduled to be delivered to the Hellenic Squadrons
(Figure 8).
RHAF cadets in RHAF training section in South Africa followed identical train-
ing as their allied counterparts. They had to attain an advanced level teaching of the
English language. Cadets were trained as air wireless operators/air gunners, ground
wireless operators or observers. Apart from flying training, the Air Ministry arranged
that ground personnel would also be trained at the RHAF Training Section in South
Africa or at Aqir, at Aboukir and at Heliopolis. After graduating from the training
centres, officers and NCOs were posted to Maintenance Units for specific training on
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the aircraft/equipment in Aboukir and in Tura .

17
History of the Hellenic Air Force (1941-1944), Vol. IV, published by the Hellenic Air Force History
Museum, 1998, pp. 131-134.
18
Ibid, pp. 146-164.