Foundation and World War II In April 1941, the German
Wehrmacht overran Greece. The Greek government under King
George II fled to Allied-controlled
Egypt, where it began to establish
expatriate Greek Armed Forces. These were formed out of personnel that had been evacuated from Greece or fled to the Middle East during the Occupation, and were equipped and organised along British lines, coming under British command. They had also been formed from Greeks who migrated to Egypt or were born in Egypt before the War. The squadron was formed as the
335th Royal Hellenic Pursuit Squadron (), designated within the British
Royal Air Force as
No 335 (Greek) Squadron, on 10 October 1941 at
Aqir airfield in
Palestine. Its first commander was
Squadron Leader Xenophon Varvaressos, and the personnel was provided from a core of Greek pilots who were undergoing training in Iraq, augmented by others who had fled from Greece. The squadron began operations over the
Western Desert, where it operated continuously until late 1942, participating in convoy protection, bomber escort and ground attack roles. Between June and September 1942, it was re-equipped with Hurricane IIBs. Under Squadron Leader
Ioannis Kellas, the squadron participated in the air operations of the
Second Battle of El Alamein; on 28 October 1942, the second anniversary of the
Italian invasion of Greece, the squadron organized a
strafing attack on the Italian
XX Corps headquarters, an operation that was a huge morale booster for the expatriate Greeks. In the aftermath of the Allied victory, the squadron returned to shipping protection duties, while being outfitted with the newer
Spitfire Mk Vb and Vc aircraft from December 1943 onwards. On 15 September, the squadron was moved along with its
sister unit to the
Italian theatre, from where it carried out operations primarily over occupied
Yugoslavia. In November the Greek squadrons returned to liberated Greece, where they were engaged in operations against the remaining German garrisons in the Aegean islands and
Crete. On 31 July 1945, the squadron was disbanded from the RAF and transferred to Greek control. The motto of the 335 Squadron
Αίεν Υψικρατείν ("Always dominate the Heights") is now the official motto of the Hellenic Air Force.
Post–war history Following the hand-over, the squadron was deployed to Sedes Air Base near
Thessaloniki. From there, after the outbreak of the
Greek Civil War, the squadron participated in operations against the Communist guerrillas. In June 1947 it was equipped with Spitfires Mk IX and XVI, which were retained until October 1953, when the squadron, now based at
Elefsis, was equipped with jet aircraft: the
US-made
F-84 Thunderjet fighter-bombers and
RT-33A reconnaissance aircraft. The redesignated
335th Fighter-Bomber Squadron (335 Μοίρα Διώξεως-Βομβαρδισμού) came under the
111th Combat Wing at
Nea Anchialos until September 1957, when it redeployed to
110th Combat Wing at
Larissa, where it was equipped with
F-84F jets. In November 1960, the squadron was transferred to
Tanagra and assigned to ground strike duties as the
335th Strike Squadron (), where it remained until its transfer to Araxos in June 1977. In May 1965 the squadron was equipped with the
F-104G, and would continue flying the Starfighters until May 1992. In December 1987 the squadron received 10 RF-104 aircraft and formed a separate Photoreconnaissance Flight. These aircraft remained in service until the type was decommissioned in May 1992. On 3 April 1993, the squadron was established as the
335th Bomber Squadron (), flying the A-7H Corsair, from a batch of 62 aircraft handed over by the US Air Force as surplus following the
First Gulf War. The squadron operated the aircraft until 2008, when it began receiving new F-16 Block 52+
Advanced aircraft. Converted to a multirole squadron, it became operational with the type in February 2010. ==See also==