hellenic air force academy

Many decades have passed since the founding of the Air Force Academy. Since then, from the academy have graduated at least 2600 pilots, 1200 aircraft engineers and other specializations according to the Air Force needs. It was founded in 1919 as the Military School of Aeronautics (Greek: Στρατιωτική Σχολή Αεροπλοΐας). The Icarus School is actually the successor of the Air Force School, founded in 1931 at the airport of Dekeleia, Tatoi in Athens. The first 11 trainees entered the academy on 2 November 1931 and their training was initially performed by Avro 621-Tutor and Avro 626-Prefect type aircraft. Training in the academy was common for both the Air Force and the Navy Aviation. The academy could be attended only by high school graduates and attendance was for 3 years. In 1935 a second branch was introduced in the academy, the branch of "Junior Lieutenant Pilots", and attendance was for 2 years. In 1938 a third branch was introduced, that of Aircraft Engineers. Most graduates of those years gave their life in the air battles of World War II, like 2nd Lieutenant Marinos Mitralexis.