- Greece: In 1945 the Royal Hellenic Air Force (RHAF) acquired 30 Stearman Kaydet PT-13/PT-17 trainer biplanes (the main difference between them was the engine). They were employed in anti-malaria dusting campaigns all over Greece, equipped with removable DDT gear.
The unit, aptly called 'Anti-Malaria Squadron' was based at Eleysis Air Base, in central Greece, being dependent of the RHAF, but also of the Agricultural and Health ministries.
Since the aircraft were a donation of the American Mission for Aid to Greece (AMAG), they had not Greek roundels painted.
The Stearmans were part of the RHAF until 1969 (although they were sent to supply depot units -IE, withdrawn from active service- years earlier) when they were sold to private aeroclubs.
It is known that at least one was employed during the Greek Civil War (1946-1949) in reconnaissance duties. - Yugoslavia: Jat Airways, the national airline of Yugoslavia, acquired six Stearman PT-17 machines in 1946/1947 for crop dusting duties. They received the following registrations: YU-AER, YU-AES, YU-AET, YU-AEU, YU-AEV and YU-AEW.
They were used for crop dusting duties, operated by Jat's pilots until the late 1950s. At least one (YU-AET) was reconverted into a two-seater trainer for civilian pilot training in the winter of 1970-1971.
During their career with Jat, they suffered numerous accidents and mishaps affecting to five out of six machines.
One machine, YU-AEW is known to have been stored for the Belgrade Air Museum in 1984, however, it was destroyed during the Yugoslav Wars (1991-2001) and the ones showed nowadays there are two ex American machines registered as YU-BAD and YU-BAI.
Sources:
1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing-Stearman_Model_75
2ns https://www.haf.gr/en/history/historical-aircraft/stearman-kaydet-pt-13-17/
3rd https://air-britain.com/pdfs/archive/Archive_2010.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment