History of Europe

Alexandros Mamais:The pilot who brought the first Mirage F1 to Greece

At 11.30 on the morning of August 4, 1975, the first Air Force (RAF) Mirage F-1CG codenamed "101" took off from Mont-de-Marchamp Air Force Base in southwestern France. Fifty minutes later, it made a two-hour stopover at the Orange base in southeastern France. At 17.10 of the same day, the then vice-commander Alexandros Mamais became the first pilot of the P.A. which landed in the 114th Fighter Wing (FM) at Tanagra the first of the forty Mirage F-1s that would operate over the Aegean for the next 28 years (they were finally retired in 2003).

OF VASILIS NEDOU
SOURCE:DAILY

A few hours later it would be followed by the second Mirage F-1CG (with code "102") piloted by Commander Charilaos Gana. Next July, 46 years after Mr. Mamai's flight, another French-made fighter, this time the Rafale, will land in Tanagra. In Mr. Mamai's mind, the timing is not accidental. The Mirage F-1CGs arrived in Greece in 1975 a year after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. In 2021 the Rafales will arrive a year after the Turkish provocations and the questioning of stability in the Eastern Mediterranean.

From the day after his arrival in Tanagra and for two years, until July 1977, Alexandros Mamais became the first of the All Weather Squadron (MPK) 342 with the name "Sparti", emblem Leonidas and motto "Molon Lave" . In October 1975, in the presence of the then Minister of National Defense Evangelos Averof, the official joining ceremony of the first aircraft of MPK 342 took place. All of the aircraft had been delivered by 1978. However, as Mr. Mamais remembers as early as May 1976 MPK 342 was fully operational, with operators and technicians ready for war.

The first aircraft immediately joined their operational role (Readiness) and participated in all the planned exercises. The Mirage F-1CGs, although they were based on the 114 B.M. in Tanagra they were everywhere in the Aegean. From the 130th Battle Squadron (S.M.) in Limnos and the 135th S.M. in Skyros until 126 AD in Heraklion and the 134th S.M. in Santorini, they were always the last to land after the intercept missions. Read the interesting sequel at the source