History
We spoke to Lt. Col. Dimitris Papadimitriou, the commander of the squadron. He has over 2.000 flight hours on the Phantom, is evidently proud of the squadron, and is keen to explain its history: “348 Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron is one of the older and most historical squadrons in the Hellenic Air Force. It was set up initially as 348 Tactical Reconnaissance Flight under the 112 Combat Wing in 1953.”
Back then, it was operating with F-84G aircraft which had been altered to perform tactical recce missions. Two years later the 348 flight became a squadron, named the 348 Mira Taktikis Anagnoriseos (MTA; Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron) ‘Mátia’ (‘Eyes’), and was provided with RT-33 and later with RF-84F aircraft
The Colonel explains why there are two types of RF-4 Phantom operating in the squadron. “In 1979 The RF-4E aircraft entered the inventory of the 348 Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron. They were new aircraft supplied by the USAF, and were delivered in the same camouflage pattern they flew the whole era. In the summer of 1993, the Hellenic Air Force received 27 more RF-4E aircraft from the German Air Force, which were added to squadron’s fleet. They had a much more dark green camouflage pattern, and were not repainted as well.”