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When you say Greece, you think about nice people, sunny weather, deep-blue seas and it’s extraordinary history. This gives us the most perfect background to for our photoflights for the Athens Flying Week Airshow. Add to it an awesome line-up of colorful aircraft and you will feel like being in paradise. Our photoflying adventure started with a flight to Kalamata Air Base, home of the Hellenic Air Force training squadrons flying the T-6 Texan II and the T-2 Buckeye. The Buckeyes are some of the most rarest jets flying in the world, as they are the very last of it’s type in operational use. What’s better than one T-2,… two T-2’s of course… A unique formation was set up together with the T-6 which made all photographers super happy.



After Kalamata we flew to another famous base, Andravida, the home of the mighty F-4 Phantom. We were able to do a photoflight with a single Phantom, twice. Some awesome passes were made, but the most spectacular moment was to have the F-4 hold on to the Skyvan for 6 minutes long!!! An incredible achievement by the pilots, which set the bar high for the next couple of days.





Back at Tanagra Air Base, homebase for the Athens Flying Week, the first participants to the show started to arrive on Thursday. The German Air Force send a Tornado to the show for the static display. From Austria, two PC-7 trainers were a welcome guest, with one being specially painted for the 25th anniversary of the type. From Poland, the Orlik team joined the show, flying their six PZL-130 Orlik trainers.



In the center of Athens city, you can find the world famous Parthenon temple on the Acropolis mountain. The Greek national airline Aegean had the idea to have their picture taken over the Acropolis with the Parthenon in the background. A very special photomission for all, with very good briefing preparations needed to make the mission a success. The results were perfect, due the professional work of everyone involved! The Aegean Airbus A-320 was photographed not only over Athens, but also over the southernmost tip of Attica, Cape Sounion.



The Cape Sounion is a strategic point for the Greek Peninsula, as is the Hellenic Air Force protecting the Greek Airspace. So the 340 Tiger Squadron wanted to have their photograph taken over Cape Sounion too flying the F-16 Fighting Falcon. To mark the new era in Air Defence over Greece, the Rafale was also photographed over the same area.





The venerable C-130 Hercules is still the workhorse of many nations. So is the C-130 in the Hellenic Air Force, providing the much needed Air Transport role. We were very happy to photograph the C-130 behind our Skyvan.





		For the show, the US Navy send over two Seahawk Helicopters operating from the Aircraft Carrier in the region. As a big surprise, a C-2 Greyhound provided the supported for Helicopters. As the type is a very rare sight in Europe, and soon will be replaced, Eric contacted the crew and they were super happy to have their picture taken. An awesome sight for all the photographers, and on Monday we had them one more time.


While the sun was setting over a hot Tanagra, the Italian Air Force arrived to the show in warm evening light. An MB-339 jet trainer together with an M-346 Master joined us in a unique formation. The MB-339 was adorned with a very nice tail paint. The M-346 will soon replace the T-2 Buckeye in the Hellenic Air Force training role.




On Friday morning we had an early start to welcome the Hellenic Army to the airshow. They participated with a great variety of Helicopters, both in the flying and static display. Some very unique formations were flown, like the UH-1 Huey joined by the Kiowa and the Apache. The new NH90 was also showcased in a formation with another Kiowa and Apache before continuing to the Tanagra Air Base.






		Another rare helicopter joining the show was the Hellenic Navy Sea Hawk. The Royal Jordanian Falcons flew a unique formation together with the Swiss Air Force F-18 demonstration team. The French Air Force flew the famous Rafale solo display to Greece to show the public what the Rafale is capable of. As every year the Rafale display aircraft is adorned in a striking paint scheme.






Another highlight to the show was the Saudi Air Force F-15 solo display. Painted up in a black color scheme with a green Eagle on both sides, the pilot gave us an awesome show! Luca Bertossio must be the most enthusiastic display pilot flying in his Swift Glider. Not an easy task to do an Air-to-Air photoshoot as he can not adjust his speed by changing the throttle. But he managed to give us an incredible show behind the Skyvan in the most beautiful light of the day!



During the weekend we visited the Airshow to show all the crews some first results of the images. On Sunday we went up again for another phabulous Phantom moment where we had a duo of F-4’s. Later on we photographed the wonderfully restored Spitfire of the Hellenic Air Force flying in great light. On Monday we started of with the Hellenic Army which gave us a super awesome formation of two Apaches, two Kiowas lead by the Huey. What a sight that was! To continue with the rotary aircraft, we had the honor of joining with the two US Navy Sea Hawks. Some brief moments later we also had the Hellenic Navy Sea Hawk again.





After flying with us on Thursday, the other crew of the C-2 Greyhound flying on Monday, also wanted to have their picture taken. So we were super happy to get the Greyhound on a second occasion. Based at Tanagra Air Base is 331 Squadron flying the Mirage 2000-5. Joining us over the Chalkis bay was a single-seater Mirage 2000, giving us an incredible show!


To finish our Athens Flying Week 2022 project, we were joined by the T-6 demonstration team of the Hellenic Air Force. They joined us with two aircraft of which one had the new demonstration paint scheme. So another hugely successful project was finished, weather wise it was very hot, but we had an incredible amount of fantastic pictures thanks to everyone involved. That includes all the photographers, flying crew, Pink Skyvan, the Hellenic Air Force and the Athens Flying Week organizational team for their great efforts! If you like to join us on one of our aerial adventures, certainly check out the other pages on our website, or to subscribe to our free newsletter to stay updated.