Boeing Stearman Model 75, part one, European Users

 

The Boeing-Stearman Model 75 was one of the most widely produced American trainer biplanes of the 1930s and 1940s, with almost 11,000 machines being built and the type being exported to various countries around the globe, among them, the following ones:

• 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  The Stearmans were part of the RHAF until 1969 (although they were sent to supply depot units -IE, withdrawn from active service- years earlier) when they were sold to private aeroclubs.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

Douglas B-23 Dragon

 

The Douglas B-23 Dragon is an American two-engined bomber developed by Douglas Aircraft Company as a successor of the B-18 Bolo.

Douglas proposed some modifications thought to improve the performance of the B-18. Initially, the XB-22 (the original project to re-engine the B-18 with Wright R-2600-1Twin Cyclone radial engines) was considered a redesign. The complete B-18 redesign was considered to have enough promise by the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) to modify the original contract, and manufacture the last remaining 38 B-18s as the B-23 standard. The design incorporated a larger wingspan, with a wing design similar to that of the Douglas DC-3, a fully retractable undercarriage and improved defensive armament. In fact, the B-23 was the first American bomber equipped with a glazed tail gun position. It was equipped with three 0.3in machine guns set in various defensive positions plus a single 0.5in machine gun placed in the tail which was operated from the prone position by a gunner using a telescopic sight. It had a payload of 2.000 lb (910 kg), just like the Bolo, but it had a range of 1.400 milles (2.300 km) and was also faster. 

The prototype flew for the first time on 27th July 1939 and a total of just 38 machines were manufactured at Douglas' factory in Santa Monica, California, when production ceased in September 1940.

Even if it was faster, better armed and had a longer range than the Bolo, the B-23 couldn't be compared to other medium bombers of the time like the North American B-25 Mitchell and Martin B-26 Marauder. That's why the B-23 was never used in combat overseas, even if, for a brief period of time, they were employed as patrol aircraft operating in the west coast of the United States. The B-23s were relegated to training duties, although some were converted to transports and redesignated to UC-67. 

The B-23 was also used as a testbed for different engines and it was used for supercharger development by General Electric at Schnectady, in New York. 

After World War 2 all of them were sold to private owners and used as either passenger airplanes or executive transports, with pertinent internal modifications having been carried out and, therefore, many of them have survived. Thanks to the wartime experience with the type, General Electric bought and used five of them, and Howard Hughes had a converted one as his personal transport.

Some converted aircraft were sold to foreign countries like Ecuador, where its national airline, Ecuatoriana de Aviación, bought a single UC-67 in the late 1950s which was even used as that country's presidential transport. Another machine is known to have been sold to the Greek airline Scholai Delta and used at Hellenikon airport in Athens, as an instructional stationary airplane during the 1970s until it was completely broken off in the 1980s.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_B-23_Dragon

2. https://www.valka.cz/Douglas-B-23-Dragon-t31133

3. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuatoriana_de_Aviación (translated)

4. https://www.airhistory.net/photo/8266/N86E

McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II - Greek users

In 1971 the Hellenic Air Force bought some F-4E and RF-4E which were complemented by ex-Luftwaffe Phantoms and some more coming from the Air National Guard of the United States at the beginning of the 1990s. Various of the F-4E were upgraded to the F-4G wild weasel standard and were equipped with the air-to-ground missile AGM-88 Harm.
After the success of the German KWS program, on 11th August 1997 the German DASA company got the contract of updating 39 aircrafts for the Peace Icarus 2000 programme. The actualization included an AN/APG-65GY radar a honeywell H-764G navigation system combined with a laser inertial navigation system, global positioning system, a multitask modular Elbit System computer, LITENING targets pod and the capacity of firing AIM-120 AMRAAM and AGM-130 missiles.
They served with the Hellenic Air Force until 4th May 2017.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-4_Phantom_II#Greece
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters