RIAT 2006 News Release
GREECE IS THE WORD!
The Hellenic Air Force (HAF) will be making a welcome return to this summer’s Royal International Air Tattoo bringing with them two aircraft: one, an old favourite and another that’s rarely seen on these shores.
Last year the Greeks sent a TA-7C Corsair II and an RF-4E to take part in RIAT and this year, emphasising the close ties the Air Tattoo enjoys with the HAF, they have agreed to send back one of their A-7s plus a rarely seen CL-415 amphibious water bomber.
The CL-415 is a proven fire-fighting aircraft that is the turboprop-powered upgraded version of the CL-215. Whilst the CL-415 can be seen in action in Greece every summer it rarely visits the UK. Based at Elefsis Airport, near Athens, the CL-415, from 383 MEEA, has a range of 2,000km and can carry up to five tonnes of water.
The A-7 took to the skies for the first time in 1965 though many things have changed in the plane since then. Both the 'E' and 'H' models incorporate many improvements, from greater thrust, to night capabilities. It is based with the 116 Fighter Wing at Araxos.
The Air Tattoo enjoys close links with the Hellenic Air Force and last summer a delegation from the Archangel 05 Airshow at Tanagra Air Force Base, led by Br Gen Stylianos Alexopoulos, visited RIAT on a fact-finding mission. Air Tattoo Director Tim Prince then attended the Archangel Airshow in September as a guest of the HAF.
He said: “I was hugely impressed, not only with their professionalism, but also with the size and quality of their first public airshow.”