Sunday, January 8, 2012

Greece-Turkey 1918-1922 Airco DH.9

Airco D.H.9 of the Second Greco-Turkish War


Slowly but surely I am getting back to normal after the holidays. Between medical appointments and working up profiles and new galleries and new navigation for them which are been viewable on galleries on my main site I have been a bit busy. Life has been interesting. I use the term advisably since the Chinese use the phrase as a curse. “May you live in interesting times” is not a friendly wish.


Today's post is another look at the aircraft used during the Second Greco-Turkish War. Once again both sides used the same aircraft type. The Greeks were supplied by Britain, and the Turks by captured Greek equipment. Such are the fortunes of war.


Royal Hellenic Naval Air Service



Airco D.H.9 - 1918

This aircraft had carried a typical RNAS color scheme before entering Greek service. In some profile examples show the fuselage and fin painted in very light gray to white paint scheme. Greek roundels are only painted on the wings. The forward fuselage section was natural metal both sides of the fuselage carry a Greek flag. This was the personal aircraft of the top Greek ace of WW1 Aristides Moraitinis during 1918. This aircraft served with the Royal Hellenic Naval Air Service and was stationed at the Moudros airfield, Lemnosin January of 1921.


This British built DH.9 first served RNAS before it was given to the Royal Hellenic Naval Air Service and was stationed at Alfion-Karahisar airfield during July 1921. The aircraft is finished in PC10 Dope on upper flying surfaces, fin, undercarriage legs and rear fuselage. The fuselage panels were painted battleship gray, and the under surfaces and wheel covers are clear doped Linen. The blue and white Greek national markings were converted from existing RNAS roundels from when they were based at Moudros during WW1. The serial number is painted in white, and is partially obscured by a dark gray or black wavy line. This pattern was a theater marking applied to all operational aircraft involved in the Greco-Turkish war of 1919-1922. Note that roundels on the lower wing surface do not have a 1 inch White outline.


Turkish Air Force



Airco D.H.9 - 1921

This was a Greek aircraft captured by the Turks when it made a forced landing at Mugla on 27th July 1921. The plane was named “Ismet” after the commander of the Western Front. The name is painted onto the red square of the national insignia both sides of the fuselage.this aircraft was used extensively throughout the Turkish War of Independence. After the war it was converted into a two-seat trainer and it was used at the flying school in Gaziemir-Izmir until it was retire in 1924.


This was one of three Greek Navy planes deserted at the Gaziemir airfield after the Greek withdrawal and evacuation of Izmir on 9th September 1922. It was named “Ganimet” which translates as War Gain. The name is painted onto the red square of the national insignia on the starboard side of the fuselage. The port side insignia bears the identification number 262. It was converted into a two-seat trainer and used at the flying school in Gaziemir-Izmir until 1924.


References

  1. Wings Palette - Airco DH.9/9A - Greece: retrieved from http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww1/b/47/23/0
  2. Wings Palette - Airco DH.9/9A - Turkey retrieved from http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww1/b/47/137/0

A Side Note:


Recently during image searches I have noticed a trend which is does not bode well. It seems users of several highly trafficked and well known forums are not only “Hot linking” (using a URL to images on other people's server so they are stealing bandwidth) but they do not even have the common courtesy to ask permission to use images or give credit to the owner of the material and a link back to the site they are robbing. Hot linking and use media without attribution is theft of intellectual property pure and simple. Not only has my work been pilfered but the work of many others have been treated the same way. There is a trend where the hosts of the forums are turning a blind eye to the problem even after receiving email about the problem. I see them just as culpable as the abusers. We are better than that people.

5 comments:

The Angry Lurker said...

Those are really good, that image thing on forums is getting to be a real problem.....

Unknown said...

Thanks Fran.

The irony is giving credit where credit is due is beneficial to the person or group which use good practices when posting the work of others. The benefits of "fair use" are seen in availability of more information, good will and in traffic numbers which lead to better search positioning.

Most times it is not a matter of malice but a matter of ignorance of what is good "netiquette". I am a firm believer in free but fair exchange of information. It was what separated the Renaissance from the Dark Ages.

</soapbox>


Cheers

Helicopter flight school said...

Indeed, they all look good... But I have a preference for the Airco D.H.9 - 1918!

Drugut said...

I was searching everywhere for the ismet dh9. Which resource did you use to find the colors of the plane?

Unknown said...

Drugat, please see the bottom link in the references. It's all there.