From 1974 to Tanagra: the history of the Greek F-4 Phantom

Catastrophe F-4 Phantom at Athens Flying Week in Tanagra made me remember again the history of the aircraft, which for more than half a century remains one of the most recognizable symbols of the Greek Air Force.

Table of contents

• How Phantom came to Greece
• The plane that changed the capabilities of the Air Force
• Peace Icarus 2000: Phantom’s second life
• RF-4E Scouts and “The End of the Film”
• Plane and people
• Cost of service: accidents and dead crews
• Tragedy at Andravida in 2023
• End of an era
• Tanagra 2026

How Phantom came to Greece

The history of the F-4 Phantom in the Greek Air Force began during one of the most tense periods in the country’s modern history.

Contract for the acquisition of the first 36 F-4E Phantom II was concluded as part of the Peace Icarus program. The first aircraft were intended for the 338th and 339th squadrons, based at Andravida airbase.

Officially, the starting point is considered April 5, 1974. It was on this day that the first six F-4s with Greek markings landed on the territory of the 117th Combat Airlift Wing.

This date, 50 years later, was specially remembered by the Minister of National Defense Nikos Dendias at the anniversary ceremony in Andravida. IN official message from the Greek Ministry of Defense he called the F-4 “a legend of the skies” that has enhanced the country’s defense capabilities for half a century.

The Phantom’s arrival came just months before the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The new vehicles have not yet reached full combat readiness. According to historical data, after the invasion began, several F-4s were prepared for possible use, but they never flew combat missions to Cyprus.

Even then, the first loss occurred: one of the new Phantoms was damaged and lost when landing on Crete. Thus, the tragic part of the history of this type began almost simultaneously with its entry into service.

The plane that changed the capabilities of the Air Force

For Greek military aviation in the mid-1970s, the F-4 represented a huge technological leap.

The two-seater twin-engine aircraft could reach speeds of more than Mach 2work day and night and perform a wide range of tasks – from intercepting air targets to striking ground targets.

The crew consisted of two people: a pilot and a weapons systems operator. This scheme made it possible to distribute the load during complex combat missions.

For decades, Greek F-4s have participated in combat duty, exercises, flights over the Aegean Sea and numerous international events.

Several generations of Greek military pilots and technical specialists were associated with the Phantom.

The characteristic silhouette with lowered horizontal tail tips, two J79 engines and clouds of dark smoke has become almost inseparable from the image of the Greek Air Force of the late 20th century.

Peace Icarus 2000: Phantom’s second life

By the end of the 1990s, aircraft built using technologies from the 1960s and early 1970s were clearly inferior to more modern fighters.

But Greece decided not to write off a significant part of the fleet, but to carry out a deep modernization.

Program contract Peace Icarus 2000also known as the Avionics Upgrade Program, was concluded in 1997. The modernized vehicles received the designation F-4E AUP.

The update affected primarily avionics and weapons systems. The aircraft were equipped with a new AN/APG-65 radar, more modern navigation, a digital computing system, multifunctional displays and equipment that allowed the use of more modern air-to-air missiles.

The first modernized F-4 was returned to the Greek Air Force in December 2002.

In fact, Greece managed to turn a Vietnam War-era aircraft into a platform capable of continuing service in the 21st century.

RF-4E Scouts and “The End of the Film”

The Greek Air Force also had a special reconnaissance version of the Phantom – RF-4E.

These aircraft have performed aerial reconnaissance missions for decades as part of the 348th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron.

In May 2017, this chapter of history closed. Athens News then talked about the farewell ceremony in Larisa in a publication “Greece says goodbye to “phantoms””.

During the final flight, I especially remember the RF-4E with tail number 7499, on which a symbolic inscription appeared “The End of the Film” – “The End of the Film”.

It was a play on words: reconnaissance Phantoms were originally created around cameras and a huge amount of aerial photography.

Greek Air Force officials called the withdrawal of the RF-4E the end of an important chapter in its history. Along with the aircraft, the 348th Squadron, which served for more than six decades, ceased to exist.

Plane and people

An almost separate aviation culture has developed around the Phantom in Greece.

There were crews, technicians and entire families for whom Andravida and the F-4 became part of their lives.

Even defense ministers used the Phantom as a symbol of their close ties to aviation. In 2016, then-minister Panos Kammenos took to the air in an F-4E from the Andravida base and flew over the Ionian Sea for about an hour.

“Athens News” also talked about this in the material “Panos Kammenos flew in the cockpit of an F-4E Phantom fighter jet”.

But love for this car has always coexisted with an understanding of its danger.

Cost of service: accidents and dead crews

The half-century history of military aircraft is inevitably associated with accidents. The F-4 was no exception.

Names were announced at an official ceremony marking 50 years of Phantom service in August 2024 24 pilots killed. Dendias especially noted them as people who sacrificed their lives in the performance of duty.

This figure refers to the period before today’s Tanagra incident and in itself shows the price that Greek military aviation has paid for more than half a century of operating the Phantom.

At the same time, the age of the aircraft cannot automatically be declared the cause of a specific disaster. Military aircraft undergo routine maintenance, service life checks and modernization, and the causes of each accident are determined by a separate investigation.

The F-4 places significant demands on its crew and is especially dangerous during low-altitude flights and intense maneuvering, conditions that sometimes leave the pilot with mere seconds to react.

Tragedy at Andravida in 2023

One of the worst recent disasters occurred January 30, 2023.

The two-seat F-4E Phantom II of the 338th Squadron, 117th Combat Wing was on a training flight when it crashed into the sea south of Andravida.

The Athens News reported on the incident in the first hours after the disaster: “Greece: An Air Force F-4 fighter crashed an hour ago”.

Initially, there was hope that the crew might have ejected. However, the rescue operation soon became tragic.

The body of co-pilot Marios-Michael Touroutsikas, 29, was found. We reported this in the article “One of the pilots of the crashed fighter was found dead.”.

The search for the crew commander, 31-year-old Efstathios Tsitlakidis, continued using helicopters, ships, divers and underwater equipment. The following material from the Athens News was devoted to this operation – “The search continues for the F-4 Phantom pilot.”.

Later, his death was also officially confirmed.

The disaster hit 338 Squadron particularly hard, the last Greek Air Force unit to continue flying the Phantom.

End of an era

By the mid-2020s, it became obvious that the Phantom was nearing completion.

In March 2024, Nikos Dendias publicly announced his intention to unify the Greek Air Force fleet as much as possible around three main types – F-16 Viper, Rafale and F-35.

The Athens News reported on this in detail in a publication “N. Dendias: we sell F-4, Mirage 2000-5 and F-16 Block 30”.

The minister himself later clarified that the transition cannot take place at once. Andravida, where the Phantoms were based almost from the first day of service, should become one of the bases for future Greek F-35s.

At the anniversary ceremony in 2024, Dendias said that abandoning the F-4 would save about 30 million euros per yearand 228 technical specialists and 17 pilots will be able to be transferred to other areas.

This completes the circle: the airfield where the first Phantoms flew in the spring of 1974 is preparing to receive fifth-generation fighters.

Tanagra 2026: tragedy on the final pages of the Phantom story

On September 5, 2026, the F-4 again found itself in the center of attention throughout Greece – for a tragic reason.

During Athens Flying Week at Tanagra airbase, one of the Greek Phantoms crashed during a demonstration flight. A column of black smoke rose above the crash area, and emergency services were sent to the scene.

At the time of preparation of this historical material, the official investigation into the circumstances of the disaster was just beginning, so it is premature to draw conclusions about its causes.

It is especially symbolic that the F-4 participated in Athens Flying Week even when the Phantom operational program itself was at its final stage.

In 1974, this aircraft represented the future of aviation for Greece. More than half a century later, it has become a living monument to an entire era.

During this time, planes, radars, missiles, opponents and the very concept of air warfare have changed. But the Phantom continued to take off.

And that’s why the departure of the F-4 is not simply a matter of replacing one type of weapon with another. This is the end of a story that has been going on for over 52 years old and was written not only by metal and technology, but above all by people.

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