The Hellenic Air Force’s historic MJ755 Spitfire landed at Tatoi military airport on Thursday afternoon. The Spitfire, an emblematic aeroplane during WWII returned from the UK after undergoing a full restoration. Two Greek F-16s accompanied the Spitfire after it entered Greek airspace.
“The return of the Spitfire is a very important day,” stated the vice president of the ICARUS foundation that funded the restoration of the aircraft.
The Spitfire set off from Biggin Hill airport outside London on Tuesday with stops in France and Italy and arrived in Greece via Brindisi, landing initially on Corfu for refuelling and continuing via Araxos to Athens.
The training of the Greek pilots that will fly the plane during anniversary events will begin in the UK in June.
The MJ755 was one of 77 Spitfires presented to the then Hellenic Royal Airforce to help rebuild Greece’s fleet, delivered to Athens by RAF pilot George Dunn DFC on February 27, 1947. In April of that year, it joined the 335th Royal Hellenic Pursuit Squadron in Sedes while from 1949 it was used as a training aircraft for military pilots in Tatoi. In 1950, it was transferred to the State Aircraft Factory in Faliro, where it was converted to a photo-reconnaissance plane. Its last flight was in 1953 before it was permanently grounded and turned into an exhibit, first at the Tatoi air base and then in the courtyard of the War Museum in Athens. It was transferred back to Tatoi in 1995 after the creation of the Air Force Museum and in 2018 it was sent to a special restoration facility at Biggin Hill airport outside London for a complete makeover.
