AVIATION IN PROFILE NORTH AMERICAN T-2 BUCKEYE
The T-2 Ready Flight apron at Kalamata Air Base. There are thirty-five T-2E Buckeyes that are the survivors from the mid-1970’s acquisition of forty T-2Es, and five more T-2Cs that were received from the US Navy in 2001- 2002 from AMARC at Davis-Monthan.
coming from different branches such as the Hellenic Army Air Corps and Hellenic Navy Aviation AB-212ASW. A typical Fighter Weapons School course in the 1990s included virtually every aircraft in the HAF inventory such as the F-16C, F-4E, F-104G, F-5A, Mirage-2000, Mirage F.1CG and the small T-2E Buckeye as a helicopter- killer, to represent the TuAF tactics and manoeuvres to the FWS training facilitators.
During the late 1990s the HAF
Centre of Development named KETA (Kentro Tehnologikis Anaptyxis), bought a certain number of Global Positioning System (GPS) sets for fitment in the rear cockpits of RF-4E/F-4E SRA Phantoms and T-2E Buckeyes. The GPS that was selected was the Garmin X95 and it was fitted during 1999-2000 in the lower section of the instrument panel.
Today there are some thirty-five
T-2E Buckeyes that are the survivors of the mid-1970s acquisition of the
original forty T-2Es and five more T-2Cs that were received from the USN in the 2001/2002 timeframe from the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC) at Davis-Monthan in Arizona. These T-2C (s/n 157043, 157049, 158889, 158904 and 158910) had been used as spin trainers with VF-126 at NAS Miramar, California and VF-43 at NAS Oceana, Florida who had operated them until 1994 as Aggressors. These supplemented the T-2E Buckeye attrition losses – the first being s/n 160073 which was written off on 8 July 1977; the second was s/n 60094 w/o on 28 July 1983, and the third was s/n 160085 w/o on 24 June 1996, plus the one or two unidentified ground related incidents used as spares.
In 2010, the HAF Staff council
accepted the handover of a further seven crated T-2C Buckeyes, as a stop-gap measure. This second batch of ex-US NAVY T-2C Buckeyes, Bureau Numbers s/n 155159, 159173, 158909, 158601,
Close-up shot of the cockpit area. (Ioannis Lekkas)
159705, 158321 and 159722, arrived in Kalamata and after being uncrated, now act as spares for the ‘operational’ T-2C/Es that are in service with Nos 362 and 363 Training Squadrons at Kalamata AB.
Following the receipt of the
twelve ex-US Navy T-2Cs to the HAF, the T-2C/E Buckeye sustainability has substantially increased, and the 40th anniversary of No 363 Training Squadron on 5 October 2012, was marked at Kalamata by the squadron’s emblem being painted on to T-2E Buckeye s/n 160084.
The future The recent European financial
crisis has altered the plans for defence procurement in the Hellenic Air Force priority list. A procurement plan existed for buying some thirty-seven Advanced jet trainers with candidates such as the BAe Systems Hawk Mk 128, Aermacchi M-346
and Aero Vodochody L-159 being shortlisted.
However, with the Greek debt
making any acquisition unrealistic, the HAF has opted to accept the handover of a further seven crated ex-USN T-2C Buckeyes as a stop- gap measure which was the only cost effective and realistic solution.
Generally speaking the fresh
pilot graduates that receive a posting to Nos 331 or 332 Squadrons equipped the Mirage 2000EGM and 2000-5 are the crème de la crème of the Hellenic Air Force Academy. However with the influx of the glass cockpit Mirage 2000-5 and F-16C/D block 52+ in no less than five Fighter Squadrons in HAF, has made the entry of a lead-in Fighter-Trainer more than a necessity.
As the initial pilot entry selection
method has not altered over the decades, (comprising a series of tests in Maths, Physics, and Chemistry), and using a T-2C/E
Pre-flight checks – a pilot looking in to the port side avionics bay of T-2 160063/63... (Ioannis Lekkas)
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... then checking the tailhook. (Ioannis Lekkas)
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