336 Squadron Hellenic Air Force - 80 years

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The 336 Squadron with call sign “Olympus”, was established for the 1st time, on February 25, 1943, at the “Landing Ground 219” airport near Cairo, Egypt.

Its first name was 336 “Hellenic Royal Fighter Bomber Squadron”. The 336 Squadron was subordinated to the RAF 219 Combat Wing, and it was the second Fighter Bomber Squadron of the Hellenic Royal Air Force.

The squadron was initially equipped with 21 Hurricane-IIC aircraft and had a total of 309 men, with twenty-six (26) pilots.

On April 4 1943, it was transferred to the desert at the LG121 airport, which was located near Sidi Barrani, Egypt, and it stayed there until January 1944. From April 11, 1943, the Squadron was full operational.

The missions were naval convoy protection, interception of hostile aircraft, offensive patrols, and ground attack sweeps over Crete.

The Squadron’s main characteristic was the keenness and the willingness of all the pilots to participate in the missions. This led to having draws in order to determine which pilots would take part in the missions because there were few aircraft and many volunteers. The missions carried out by the Greek pilots too often caused admiration to the allies.

In January 1944, the squadron redeployed to the Libyan airport of El Adem, where it stayed until March 1944. Thereafter, it was redeployed to the Bu Amoud airport for a few days, and since April 1944, to the Marsa Matruh airport of Egypt.

In June 1944, the personnel started training to receive the new aircraft type, the Spitfire V. In July, once again, it redeployed to El Adem airport, where the reception of the new aircraft started in September.

After a few days, the 336 Squadron was transferred to Italy at Nuova airport, and from this base, it carried out ground attack missions over Albania, Yugoslavia and occupied Greece.

Next station was the Biferno airport only for a few days and after that the squadron operated all November from Grottaglie airport, until its return to Greece.

It continued operating from Hassani airport against the German forces in Crete, Milos, and the Dodecanese.

The 336 Squadron during WW II accomplished 3250 missions (day/night), conducting 12427 flight hours, 5116 of which in combat missions, and the rest in training. The losses were twelve (12) pilots killed and three (3) captives.

In May 1945, it redeployed to Sedes airport in Thessaloniki and took part in the civil war operations during 1946 – 1949. In February 1949, the 336 Squadron redeployed to Larissa and was integrated to the of 110 Combat Wing force.

On August 24, it was equipped with the Helldiver vertical attack fighter-bomber, changing its role to Light Bomber Squadron. Following this, it was equipped with the F-84G at Elefsis airport, while at the same time, it was renamed to 336 Fighter Bomber Squadron.

On December 28 1953, it was redeployed to Nea Anchialos. In 1958, it replaced the F-84G with the new F-84F, and in March 1959, it was redeployed firstly to 110 Combat Wing and then to 116 Combat Wing on December 4 1962. On September 25, 1963, it was renamed to 336 Squadron.

On January 15 1965, the 336 Strike Squadron with F-104G aircraft was moved to 114 Combat Wing, and at the same time, the part of 336 Squadron, F-84F stayed to 116 Combat Wing. On December 23, 1966, the 336 Strike Squadron with the F-104G was moved back from 114 Combat Wing to 116 Combat Wing.

From December 1966 until March 31st, 1993, the 336 Squadron maintained the F-104G aircraft. From this date on, it was renamed to 336 Bomber Squadron and started receiving the A-7E and TA-7C. With those aircraft types, it was operating at first as Re-training Flight for the F-104Gs pilots to the new aircraft type A-7E.

The HAF bombing ability was increased with the A-7 aircraft because of their great capability to carry a heavy weapon load to long distances and deliver it to the target with satisfactory accuracy.

On October 7th, 2014, the LTV A-7 Corsair II was retired. On July 13th, 2015, the first flight of F-16 with call sign “OLYMPUS GOLD” was accomplished.

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