Unidentified RAF airplane in Greece 1941
 

Dear friends,
I am looking for information about an incident that took place in Greece in April 1941.These are all i heard from an old man from my village.During the evacuation of Greece an airplane of the RAF was landed on a valley near Molaoi,in southern Greece.The airplane was out of fuel.The villagers managed to find fuel for the airplane and to refuel it.Finally the plane took off (for Crete?) taking also a Greek police officer!
I need your help to find the type of the aircraft, and the squadron which it belonged.Keep in mind that it was late April of 1941.
Thank you

Re: Unidentified RAF airplane in Greece 1941
 

ΤΟ ΑΕΡΟΔΡΟΜΙΟ ΛΕΧΑΙΟΥ ΣΤΟΝ Β΄ ΠΑΓΚΟΣΜΙΟ ΠΟΛΕΜΟ
πολλοί κάτοικοι του χωριού κατέστρεψαν και έκαψαν τα καθηλωμένα στο έδαφος αεροπλάνα, ενώ όσα μπορούσαν και πετούσαν ακόμα κατέφευγαν προς το νότο σε ένα πανομοιότυπο αεροδρόμιο της νοτίου Ελλάδος στους Μολάους ενώ ο διοικητής παρέμεινε στο Λέχαιο.

probably it was a BR 14 or an avro aircraft which took some people from molaoi to crete

Re: Unidentified RAF airplane in Greece 1941
 

It was in mid not late april 1941 and it was Royal Yugoslav a/c. You're right about direction it was Crete.

Cheers
GT

Re: Unidentified RAF airplane in Greece 1941
 

I had nearly lost any hope on this subject! Your messages were a very pleasant surprise. Thank you both.
Globetrotter can you give more details? Which is the source of your data?

Tasos

Re: Unidentified RAF airplane in Greece 1941
 

Written statement from Military Archive in Belgrade. Give me couple of days and I'll provide you full info. Exact date, route, names, a/c type, unit, etc ...

Cheers

Re: Unidentified RAF airplane in Greece 1941
 

Hello all!
Yugoslavian aircraft were stationed mainly at the airfield of Agrinion where they were destroyed on the ground.The only one which made it more far i can remember was the one which carried the royal family.But i can imagine they had enough fuel for the trip. Indeed some Yugo floatplanes reached crete and after that Egypt.I suppose Tasos doesnt mean floatplanes,isnt he?
Its an interesting matter, so i am also curious of the result!

regards

Re: Unidentified RAF airplane in Greece 1941
 

The aircraft wasn;t a Do-22 floatplane. According to my source it was a two or three-seat aircraft and probably it was a biplane.
The information of the Aviator made me think that maybe it was an Avro 621 or Avro 626 of the Greek Air Force , but i can;t find anything positive in the greek bibliography.
Thank you both.

Re: Unidentified RAF airplane in Greece 1941
 

Hello,
have a look at this:ΤTα αεροπλάνα που ήταν στο Αεροδρόμιο Λεχαίου, και έπρεπε να καταστραφούν, ήταν επτά "Μπρεγκέ-19" και δύο "Αβρό-621" τα οποία θεωρήθηκαν ως άχρηστο υλικό.

It could be possible that somehow the airfield staff was able to repair the aircraft and tried to flee to Crete.Its not the first time greek mechanics prooved to make "miracles". But probably it suffered technical problems and landed at Molaoi. And there was an order to light up the fuel not to be captured by the germans.Maybe thats why they refueled the aircraft.It will be hard to find some reference to this event.Only there could be a reference for a lone Avro 621 arriving at Crete.

regards

Re: Unidentified RAF airplane in Greece 1941
 

The whole idea sounds very logical. It is very possible that this aircraft was an Avro 621 because my source talks about a two-seated aicraft probably a biplane. Which is your source about the airfield of Lechaio?

Re: Unidentified RAF airplane in Greece 1941
 

Hi Tasos / Aviator,

Years ago I read statement from Military Archive that I mentioned. Everything is OK except places …
On April 17 1941 Caproni Ca310 Libecchio from 603.Training unit t/o from Niksic airfield in Montenegro via Greece most probably to Agrinion or Paramythia. Lost en route he finally landed in field south of Santa Karanti (Santa – Saint – Agios?). After ‘’briefing’’ with locals and orientation, Caproni took off again and after some time landed at island Corfu (Kérkira) on soft ground without damaging plane but critically low on fuel.
Caproni was abandoned and crew with pilot Milic Jokic joined group of Greeks with boat leaving the island to Kalamata. He was captured there by Germans on 29 April 1941.
There was another Caproni from same unit that landed on Corfu but broke undercarriage due to soft terrain. It seems that both machines were burned by locals prior to invasion of island.
There were a lot of missions over Greek soil during mid April 1941 performed by Royal Yugoslav Air Force. Some of them as part of ‘’Air bridge” operation, others in order to collect RYAF personnel escaped to Greece. There was lot of flying over Greek airfields as Paramythia, Agrinion, Ioanina, Menidi, Tatoi and Elevsis even over Florina. Final direction was over Crete via Egypt.
Types involved in action over Greece were: Dornier Do-17K, Savoia Marchetti SM.79, Bristol Blenheim Mk.1, Caproni Ca310, Lockheed Electra, Messerschmitt Bf-108 Taifun, Breguet 19 Cyclone, SIM XIV floatplane, Heinkel He-8 floatplane and of course Dornier Do-22 floatplanes.

Cheers
GT

PS Could anyone help with location of Santa Karanti?