"The Greek must be proud, strong, industrious and hold his head high in the adversities of life. A little "good madness" never hurts!", said Antigoni Kamperou, niece of the first Greek military aviator, Dimitris Kamperou, in an interview with APE-MPE, on the occasion of the Air Force Day, next to the plane -copy of her legendary ancestor in the War Museum.
Genius and daring, Caberos was a measure of aerobatic maneuvers, at a time when the airplane was more like a "bird on a wire." In the First Balkan War in 1912, he converted his plane into a bomber, even inventing the first "napalm" bomb. Although "the Air Force was like a tight suit, like a skin over him," he leaves it at a critical moment, only to return to it later and flourish. Even the lack of gasoline does not discourage him:He uses turpentine to fly!
"But he leaves again, only to return in 1932 as commander of the Aviation School. Romantic and stubborn, he is not satisfied with the name of the school. He wants to change it to the School of Icarus and two years later he retires with a "surprising and dazzling finale", befitting a Campero. With the outbreak of B'PP, he gives his "present" to the Air Force. But they consider him too old to return to active action. He puts his uniform back on for the last time. But now it is Occupation and the Germans are knocking on his door...
Interview with Vassilis Pia
-Ms. Kamperou you are a descendant of Dimitris Kamperou, the first Greek military aviator and founder of the Hellenic Air Force. What is your relation to him?
- Dimitrios Kaberos was my father's uncle, i.e. his father Anastasios and my grandfather were first cousins. from the time when the young Canberian was a student at the Ewelpidon School, in the early 20th century and then a pilot-legend in the Balkan Wars, to move on to the Interwars and later to the period of the Second World War and the Occupation. What prompted you to write such a book and who really was the aviator Dimitris Kaberos?
-The first edition was self-published in 2014 and the second took place this year at the beginning of 2019. Since I was little I heard about the exploits of Trelokaberos from my father and later as an adult, I wanted to resurrect the forgotten hero of Aviation and give a chance to today's Greeks to learn about an aspect of our history that is not known.
-In period photos we see him wearing leather gloves, a scarf, a leather helmet, nothing to do with a military uniform. They had even given him the nickname the "crazy camper", an expression that still exists today. Why?
– He was eccentric in character and wanted to impress. That is why in his demonstrations with the biplane he made dangerous maneuvers and the people below shouted "He will fall and be killed!" It's crazy! What's his name; Canberra. Crazy Camper, Crazy Camper! And the nickname "crazy camper" remained.
-In 1911, just eight years after the first historic flight of the Wright brothers in the USA, the Ministry of War sent the first three Greek officers to train as military pilots in France. Among them was the lieutenant of the Artillery at the time, Dimitris Kaberos. Give us the climate of the time and tell us some details of their training and stay there.
-At the Farman School outside of Paris, the Greek officers were trained, and they were very good, and because they wanted to impress their colleagues, they did something audacious. They flew in bad weather or even flew close to the training buildings so that the French were forced to install lights so that the training Greek pilots would not fall on the facilities. In addition to Kamperos, Michalis Moutousis, Christos Adamidis and Panoutsos Notaras were trained.
-In April 1912, Camperos returns to Greece by rail from France, together with two "Farman" type airplanes, which arrived in Piraeus by ship, disassembled into two boxes. It is the period a few months before the start of the Balkan Wars. Tell us Mrs. Kamperou about your uncle's action during that time of peace, but also about the world speed record he achieved.
-Camperos assembles the biplane and makes demonstrations in Faliro, in the area of the then Zoological Garden. Every time a sea of people flocks to admire him and he impresses them. It's like saying that a spaceship is coming to land in Athens today! The crowd will be great, even then. In May 1912, the christenings of the four neighbors are held by the visionary Venizelos who believes in the new weapon for the defense of our homeland. The Caberos is not limited to its use as a biplane but installs floats and turns it into a seaplane! "Daedalus" has a dual quality, he flies in the air and tears the sea. In one of his seaplane flights, "Trelokaberos" manages to break the world speed record with it on the Hydra-Faliro route.
-On September 29, 1912, the First Balkan War broke out. A few days later on October 5, the first military air mission took place with Dimitris Kaberos near Elassona, the physical border between Greek and Turkish forces. Tell us about your ancestor's action there. Is it true that in a subsequent mission, Camperos also used "napalm" type bombs, a Greek invention, which was later used in the civil war and by the Americans in Vietnam?
-Commander-in-Chief Konstantinos orders this date to Kamperos as the head of the Company and makes the first flight which observes the troops of the Ottoman army and gives information to the Headquarters for the coordination of the operation from land and air. Yes, Camperos is basically the one who will use improvised bombs and so we have a lead once again. Camperos turns his plane into a bomber because he manually bombs the enemy from above.
-But hadn't he used more conventional Greek-made bombs, like the other Greek pilots?
-The Maltsiniotis factory, later Pyrkal, manufactures half-kilo bombs and Kaberos takes them six at a time, puts them in a wooden waterproof box that the herrings used to put in case they fall into the water so they don't get hurt, and throws them by hand over the enemy troops. The Turks are baffled because they have never seen anything like this before and lose their morale. This is sufficient for the advance of our troops on land.
-The flights of the four Greek aviators over Macedonia continued without loss until October 26, 1912, the day the Greek Army occupied Thessaloniki. But after a few weeks, Camperos resigns from the air force and returns to the artillery. Tell us what reasons led him to this act.
-When the Airplane Company was transferred to the Epirus Front, a disagreement arose between the Company commander, Camper, and the French aviator Barre. Camperos thought that the "Five Wells" site should be preferred because it was close to Ioannina while Barre suggested a site near Preveza, Nicopolis, which was much further from Ioannina. The opinion of the former, according to the circumstances, was more correct, but that of the French officer prevailed. Terribly angry that his opinion was not listened to, Camperos submitted his resignation from the Air Force and returned to the Artillery where he originally belonged. This happened on November 1, 1912.
-For Cabereau "the Air Force was like a tight suit, like a skin over him", you write in your book. When did he return to her and how?
-It is my literary expression. Caberos returns to the Air Force in 1913 to organize it and again flourishes. He repairs planes that were in disrepair and since there is no gasoline due to the blockade, he uses turpentine to fly. In 1932, at the urging of his old friends and students, he returned to the Air Force and took over the administration of the School in Tatoi. Again he leaves his mark on me as a trainer, commander and above all as a "man".
-When did he last fly and where?
-The visit of the British aircraft carrier "Furious" was scheduled and the British planes made
demonstrations at Tatoi as part of their preparation for the arrival of the aircraft carrier, demonstrating the difference in level of training from the Greek air force. Like the bold and "crazy" that he was, he dived a plane that had been in use for a decade and landed in Faliro. He approached the aircraft carrier with the antiquated "Avro" plane, and performed aerobatics off its deck and with reverse flights, touched the surface of the sea, causing the admiration of the British. This was also his last show as he was discharged due to age the following day on August 2, 1934. A surprising, dazzling finale that befitted Caberros.
-He almost didn't get a pension. He was missing some insignia..
-He was recalled and transferred to the Air Force as a reserve officer with the rank of adjutant. His placement was not essential, but rather symbolic in order for him to receive his pension as an officer of the ministry. He had eighteen months to complete it. This time he put on the uniform again, not the khakis but the navy blue and the flight suit to give 'the presence'. In the person of Kamperos, the Commander of the S.A. he saw a valuable partner with prestige and experience to train the Staff from excellent aviators.
-The Second World War finds him withdrawn to his home in Piraeus. He is asking again to return to his lifelong love, the Air Force. Why did they not accept him during those difficult times for the country and what impact did this refusal have?
– When war broke out in 1940, Camperos was 57 years old, put on his uniform and presented himself to the Air Staff to offer his services to the country. He considered it necessary and appropriate to undertake the education of the Icarians in Argos. The Economakos who was then deputy wingman and Minister of Aviation told him that he was old now even though he was a symbol in Aviation. This made him very bitter and he withdrew even more.
-He remains in his house in Freattyda. That's where the Occupation finds him. One morning the Germans knock on his door. What do they want him for? They will come again the next day. Please describe the scene.
-In the summer of 1940, when German soldiers came to arrest him, he refused because they were inferior in rank to him. He followed protocol and instructed the interpreter to inform them that he would agree to accompany them only on the condition that they brought him a German Luftwaffe officer of the same rank. The Germans showed respect. They left after informing him that they would return the next morning with the German attaché. He put things in their place, revealing his strong personality once again.
-"History will be lenient towards me, because I intend to write it myself", he had told a young age the later British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. However, the same did not happen with Dimitris Kaberos. Even though he too wrote with his enthusiasm and courage the history of the Greek Air Force, his end was inglorious and not at all heroic. Please tell us what happened to him in two words.
-"Charo's kiss did not find him on the plane" as the Greek Icarus legend says. So it happened. Ensign Dimitrios Kaberos did not die on the plane, but was found dead in his home. The gas pipework got damaged so he fell asleep and didn't wake up while he was making his tea to warm up. Little by little the poison that Charos sent insidiously, put him to sleep forever! He died in the winter of 1942 during the Occupation.
-What does Dimitris Kaberos want to tell us with his life and actions today?
– That the Greek must be proud, strong, hardworking and keep his head up in the adversities of life. A little "good craziness" never hurts!
Antigone E.Kaberou – A short biography
Antigoni Kamperou was born in Athens, the daughter of Evangelos Kamperou, a lawyer, a well-known Piraeus writer. She studied English, German and Italian philology at the University of Glasgow and Hamburg and then continued her postgraduate studies at the European Institute of the University of Geneva in European Studies with a thesis on the Greek-Turkish disputes in the context of the International Law of the Sea. Her PhD focused on European culture and common European cultural identity at Panteion University. She taught English, German and Greek in Geneva alongside her studies. Returning to Greece after a twelve-year stay abroad, he taught European Studies at Panteion University and English terminology at Kapodistrian University.
He appears as an author with the historical narrative, in 2014, entitled "Dimitrios Kaberos, the Crazy Kaberos, the life of the first Greek military aviator" and with a series of short stories in 2016 "Tou Nou Klothogyrismata". In 2018, he publishes the children's story "The Madman in the Airs". Her new book, another historical narrative, will appear in November 2019 under the title "Ocean - wind of bliss, storm of heartbreak".
Dimitris Kaberos:The founder of the Hellenic Air Force
He was born in December 1883 in Hydra. Son of Anastasis Kamperos and Marigos Papadakis, he was the eldest child of four other boys and one girl. His family moved from Hydra to Piraeus when he was still very young.
He finished the 1st high school of Piraeus and was the first to enter the Evelpidon school. He graduated in 1905 with the rank of second lieutenant. He served in the artillery until 1911. In that year the military leadership, by order of Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos, sent the first Greek officers to train as military pilots abroad.
Dimitris Kaberos together with lieutenant Michalis Moutousi and lieutenant commander Christos Adamidis were the first three chosen among sixty volunteers. Soon, the three young officers found themselves at the school of the Farman brothers, just outside Paris. At that time, France was a pioneer in aviation education and in addition to the Farman school, there was also the school of Louis Bleriot, who in 1909 was the first person to fly across the English Channel.
In April 1912, Dimitris Kaberos returned to Greece having completed his education. Performs the first flight of a military plane on Greek soil on May 14, 1912, with a "Henry Farman" type plane. A little earlier on February 8 of that year, the private Emmanuel Argyropoulos makes the first flight in the Greek skies, with a privately owned "Nieuport IV.G" type airplane with a 50 hp engine, in the area of Ruf. He flies with Eleftherios Venizelos as a passenger, who does not hesitate to become the first airplane passenger in Greece.
In June 1912, Camperos decided to convert the "Farman" into a seaplane, putting floats in place of the wheels. With this plane at the end of June flying on the route Faliro - Hydra - Faliro, Camperos breaks the world speed record, flying at 93 kilometers per hour.
The First Balkan War broke out on 29 September 1912 and a few days later, on the morning of 5 October 1912, Lieutenant Caberos was ordered to fly over the front and report on enemy movements and forces along the Elassonas Arm – Sarantaporou. He took off from Larissa and after reconnoitring the entire border area he landed the plane in Tyrnavos, from where he submitted his report. This flight is also the first in the world during a regular war.
But a few weeks later, Camperos leaves the air force due to his disagreement with the French aviator Barre, and returns to the artillery he belonged to. Οι Βαλκανικοί Πόλεμοι τελειώνουν και ο Καμπέρος γυρίζει ξανά στην Αεροπορία. Οργανώνει και λειτουργεί την πρώτη στην ιστορία της ελληνικής αεροπορίας, σχολή χειριστών στην Θεσσαλονίκη.
Το 1917 ιδιωτεύει και το 1927 ιδρύει την μετέπειτα Αερολέσχη Πειραιώς. Το 1932 επανέρχεται στην νεοσύστατη Πολεμική Αεροπορία και ασχολείται με την εκπαίδευση των νέων αεροπόρων στην σχολή Αεροπορίας στο Τατόι, που πολύ αργότερα θα ονομαστεί σε «Σχολή Ικάρων», όπως ο ίδιος είχε προτείνει. Εκείνη την περίοδο γράφει ένα προφητικό βιβλίο «Ο Μελλοντικός Πόλεμος από του Αέρος», ενώ αναλαμβάνει και τη Διοίκηση της Σχολής το ακαδημαϊκό έτος 1932-33.
Το καλοκαίρι του 1934 κάνει μια αλησμόνητη τελευταία πτήση-επίδειξη πάνω από το Βρετανικό αεροπλανοφόρο «Furious», που είχε επισκεφτεί τον Πειραιά και σύντομα θα αποστρατευτεί. Από το 1935 μέχρι και τις παραμονές του Β’ Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου ασχολείται με την εκπαίδευση νεαρών ανεμοπόρων στο Φάληρο.
Το 1941 προσπαθεί για μια ακόμη φορά να βρεθεί κοντά στην Πολεμική Αεροπορία και να δώσει τις υπηρεσίες του δίπλα στους αεροπόρους που πολεμούσαν στην Μ. Ανατολή. Η Πολεμική Αεροπορία όμως του απαντά ότι είναι πολύ μεγάλος για κάτι τέτοιο, βυθίζοντας τον σε θλίψη.
Ο επισμηναγός Ξενοφών Βαρβαρέσος, γιος της αδελφής του Κούλας, ήταν ο Διοικητής της 335ης Ελληνικής Μοίρας Διώξεως, που έδρασε κατά τον Β’ ΠΠ στην Μ. Ανατολή. Ο Δημήτριος Καμπέρος πέθανε άδικα στο σπίτι του στον Πειραιά από διαρροή φωταερίου στις αρχές Φεβρουαρίου του 1942 και δεν πρόφτασε να δει την απελευθέρωση, αλλά και την μετάβαση της Πολεμικής Αεροπορίας από τους πρώτους κινητήρες τον 50 ίππων στην εποχή των αεριωθουμένων.
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