The T-2 Buckeye in the Hellenic Armed Forces

T-2 Buckeyes were inducted in the Hellenic Air Force about 42 years ago when the Greek military aviation was undergoing a major transformation. At that time, a massive modernisation programme took place with A-7 Corsair II, F-4 Phantom II and Mirage F-1 aircraft being inducted into Hellenic armed forces. Consequently, there was also a need for new jet engine aircraft for pilot training and for this purpose; a contract was signed in 1974 for the delivery of 40 T-2E Buckeyes. The aircraft entered in to the service in 1976 at Kalamata Air Base, at the south side of the Peloponnesus peninsula in Greece. Now in 2018, the type is still based at Kalamata with the 120 Air Training Wing.

Pilot training phases

In the first phase, screening of the trainee pilots takes place at Deklia-Tatoi Air Base on Cessna T-41D aircraft of 360 squadron. Recently, it was announced that the Hellenic Air Force has selected the Tecnam P2002JF aircraft to replace the T-41 but delivery date of the 12 aircraft is yet to be finalised.

For Phase two, students move to Kalamata, where they receive initial and basic training on T-6A Texan II aircraft. Kalamata has two Air Training Squadrons (Mira Ekpedefsis Aeros – MEA) with T-6, namely MEA 361 “Mistras” and MEA 364 “Pelops” and here the aspirant pilots have to complete 110 flying hours plus 40 simulator sorties.

Phase three consist of advanced jet engine flight training on the T-2E Buckeye. The T-2’s are part of the other two squadrons of the 120 ATW, namely MEA 362 “Nestor” and MEA 363 “Danaos”. This part of the course needs 60 flying hours on the Buckeye along with another 25 simulator sorties. The final “Operational” Phase four also takes place at Kalamata Air Base and here again, trainees have to complete 60 flying hours on air-to-air and air-to-ground missions using T-2 Buckeye aircraft. For simulator sorties, 15 missions are added in this phase.

Trainee pilots have to complete this four year academic and flying training course, before they move to an assignment with a fighter squadron. There is also a possibility that they get an assignment in the Hellenic Transport Command for heavy transport aircraft. In this case, the trainee pilot has to complete an extra course which includes addition 30 sorties on the T-6 Texan II.

The 120 ATW has approximately 60 instructor pilots of which one is female flying T-6 aircraft. The Hellenic Air Force Academy has approximately 50 cadets annually who attend the academic and flight training course.

The Buckeye in Greek service

Since 1976, almost 40 Buckeye “E” models entered the Hellenic military services and these were an export variant of the US Navy operated T-2C aircraft. During its career in the HAF, 7 T-2’s were written off due to accidents. This year two crashes took place, the first occurred on 3 January 2018 when a T-2 just after flying two miles crashed in the south of Kalamata after reported mechanic/engine failure. However, the two men crew was able to eject safely from the aircraft. The last crash which occurred on 28 August 2018 was the most tragic one, as it involved the loss of life of one of the two crew members. The cause of the crash is still under investigation. Although there were only few crashes during the operational life of the aircraft (almost 42 years) in the Hellenic Air Force, it is assumed that currently only around 5 T-2 aircraft are operational. The majority of Greek Buckeyes are stored because either the airframe ran out of flight hours or are now being used as a source for spare parts. Over the years, Kalamata received more than 10 former US Navy T-2C aircraft but they are mainly used for their spare parts.

Captain Divaris, Chief T-2 maintenance, revealed that the former US Navy aircraft are very important for the maintenance operations of HAF’s Buckeyes since these are the only source of spare parts as no more new parts have been produced because the US Navy has ceased T-2 activities. Captain Divaris stated that it is an advantage that the T-2 has such a strong airframe and the two J85-GE-4 engines are small and easy to maintain. Nevertheless, the maintenance crew has to adapt a creative and flexible attitude to maintain the decreasing T-2 force. Under given circumstances, they do a great job and succeed to have enough aircraft available to fulfill flying training requirements.

Several years ago, the Hellenic Air Force started the process for replacing the ageing T-2 since the aircraft is approaching the end of its lifespan. Further, a new modern trainer will be more suited to HAF front line fighter aircraft like the Block 30/50/52 F-16s and their future upgrade to F-16V “Viper”, as well as the upgraded Mirage 2000s. Another future advantage will probably be time spent on the maintenance on a new airframe vs currently on the T-2. As no budget has been released for the funding of new trainer aircraft, a decision for a new trainer remains on hold.

Italian AMI cooperation

For the past 10 years, the Hellenic Air Force and the Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare Italia – AMI) have maintained a close partnership through which both the countries work closely on various pilot training programmes. These programmes help Italian students to follow the training course at Kalamata and fly on Greek T-6 Texan II aircraft and for Greek cadets to fly their training phases on AMI MB-339 aircraft of the 61 Stormo based at Lecce AB, Italy.

Photos and text by Peter ten Berg