Greece Remembers Pilot Iliakis Who Died Defending Country’s Skies

Konstantinos Iliakis was connected a ngo to intercept Turkish combatant jets that had entered Greek airspace implicit the Aegean. Credit: Ministry of Defense

Twenty years ago, aviator Konstantinos Iliakis joined those Greek subject unit who fell successful the enactment of work portion protecting the state implicit the years.

It was May 23, 2006, erstwhile the 35-year-old Hellenic Air Force aviator mislaid his beingness arsenic his level crashed connected Karpathos land successful the Dodecanese. He had been trying to intercept Turkish combatant jets which had entered Greek airspace implicit the Aegean.

A Turkish craft deed the close helping of Iliakis’ F-16, causing an uncontrollable rotation into the sea. Both planes crashed, but the Turkish aviator survived utilizing the ejection spot and was rescued by a Panamanian vessel adjacent the country astatine the time.

According to Greek aviator reports, the Turkish aviator was 1 of galore from an infamous Turkish Air Force squadron, whose pilots were consistently liable for aggregate adjacent misses successful the Aegean owed to their disregard for formation safety.

The incidental caused subject tensions betwixt Greece and Turkey. Forty Hellenic Air Force fighters took disconnected to unafraid the airspace implicit the crash, arsenic dozens of Turkish fighters besides rushed to the scene.

After a tense stand-off, the 2 countries disengaged aft the leaders of the respective equipped forces, Admiral Panagiotis Chinofotis and General Hilmi Ozkiok, spoke successful an exigency telephone call.

Was aviator Iliakis’s level changeable down?

Shortly aft the remains of his crashed F-16 were found, suspicions were raised that the Turkish aviator whitethorn person changeable Iliakis down. The suspicions, however, were ne'er confirmed. The dormant pilot, a begetter of 2 young children, was of Cretan root from Kastello, Rethymnon.

On December 28, 2006, the Academy of Athens posthumously awarded the Hellenic Air Force leader with a medal for his self-sacrifice. On May 20th the pursuing year, a statue of Iliakis was unveiled successful Akrotiri of Agios Mattheos, Chania.

Shockingly, the bronze statue was stolen connected December 2, 2012 but was yet returned by the eighteen-year-old perpetrator who had claimed helium took it for scrap due to the fact that of poverty.

Credit: AMNA

Twelve years aft Iliakis’ tragic death, different Greek aviator mislaid his beingness defending the skies implicit Greece.

Giorgos Baltadoros was the combatant aviator who died connected April 12, 2018 erstwhile his Mirage 2000-5 level crashed into the Aegean aft a ngo intercepting Turkish jets which had violated Greek airspace.

To grant the fallen hero, the Hellenic Air Force precocious installed a Mirage combatant craft astatine Baltadoros’ birthplace of Morfovouni, a picturesque colony adjacent the municipality of Karditsa, Thessaly.