Whatever happened to the 21st century adage 'Wars are moral contests and they're won on the internet, never to challenged on the battlefield'" - Sun Tzu, allegedly? My take: "Let's settle this over a pot & pint."
I was stationed at Incirlik Air Base outside Adana, Turkey from April 1, 1974 to July 1, 1975. I was an U. S. Air Force Security Police Sergeant at the start of this conflict on 20 July, 1974 guarding our F-4s. First thing the Americans did was download (removal of all special weapons) and secured in bunkers in the Weapons Storage Area. From that first day of the fight, all of the Security cops went to steel pot helmets and the older flak jackets (strung up the sides with laces) until almost the day I left a year later. Blackouts every day (electric was cut) and we were told to cover our barracks windows with blankets for safety. That summer was brutal for those of us that had to wear the extra gear and work those horrible 9 and 3 shifts. I came home weighing 128 pounds soaking wet...and I brought a Turkish wife (Sema) with me. A Methodist Kentucky boy and a Muslim wife. Had 6 months remaining when the Air Force for some reason decided to send me to Malestrom A.F.B. in Montana to be retrained from Aircraft Security to Missile Security. Why? I was told from higher ups that it was my punishment for marrying a Muslim. Poor Sema never wanted to go back to Turkey and passed away in the late 1980s. This video brought back a lot of memories. I also worked as Master Surveillance Controller (tower surrounded by fences that detect metal, vibration and ground pressure near the fence line) and would stand on my tower landing and film home movies (Super 8mm) if returning Turkish F-100s coming back to land at Incirlik shot to hell and belly landing in the grass along the flightline.
There was a military coup in Greece in 1967 and a fascist junta regime was established. The same Greek junta regime executed another coup in Cyprus in 1974 with the aim of uniting Cyprus with Greece. Greece and Turkey were very close to an all out war. This video is full of technical information but it fails to demonstrate how close a devastating war between Greece and Turkey was.
I remember a late 1974 Newsweek magazine Rahan Lurie cartoon : it shows a NATO knight in full medieval armour, with the missing rear plate, revealing his flowered 🩲
@@bronsonperich9430 Hmm, comparing Air Force strengths of Greece of Turkey at the height of the tensions at least calls attention to what could have happened if there was a war.
While the aircraft videos are much loved, I feel the videos on little known or obscure events/conflicts are what really sets your channel apart from others
Good video on the air operations of Turkey and Greece. My second hitch was US Navy - early 1980s (first hitch was USAF in late 1970s), I was stationed aboard USS Ainsworth FF-1090. She was decommed and given to Turkey in 1994, served as the TCG Ege in the Turkish navy, and decommed in 2005, now serving as a museum display ship at the Inciralti Sea Museum in Izmir, Turkey. So, happily my little ship wasn't scrapped or expended as a target. 😊
Your little ship is 3-4 miles away from me. And still there next to submarine USS Tang which was used in Vietnam war then given to Turkey. I visited them few times. But just recognised today that they were veteran vessels.
I absolutely love it when a channel puts the effort to teach me something i didn't know about before, this is an interesting undertaking, thank you for the hard work.
Not Cyprus but Rhodes mid 60s .... I'm a 12 year old air-mad brat on Holiday with grandparent Every morning about 8am or so deafing screams as usually 2 Jets howl down just off the coast Hotel staff look nervous / annoyed. Other hotel guests grumble 'Greek Airforce - No respect for tourists'. Me: 'What? Those aren't Greek - look at them! Those are Turkish F-86 Sabers equipped for ground attack - Look at the weapons clusters - Wow!' Other guests look at me with fear & horror 'How do you know kid'? Well the Insignia tell you they're Turkish. The outer pods are drop tanks The rest of the clutter are bombs - Its obvious Oh the indents in the nose are cannon ports of course. Graceless _____s, they asked, then were not at all happy to have that explained
Oh, those poor things! I'm so sorry that their vacation to Biasopolis was interrupted. What I really appreciate about your story is how it shows that people haven't changed. Which is...just wonderful.
I was stationed at Akrotirin 74, I was actually on guard duty the morning the coupe happened., I watched the bombs going off in Limasol across the bay, and saw the RAF Rescue launches power out of their docks, very impressive. H H G did not deploy Lightnings, 56 Sqn were already stationed there, and yes they did fly cap missions over the British tourist evacuations from the north, although we did hear that we had to ask Turkish permission to fly those missions, apparently the Turks very kindly offerred to provide air cover for the evacuation for us, to protect us from the Greeks. Later that day we received reinforcements of a Buccaneer Sqn, soon folllowed by a Sqn of Phantoms. I really dont know where you got your information from, but in 74 there was 56 Lightning Sqn and a Bomber Wing of Vulcans permanently stationed at Akrotiri. It was not untill 75 that HMG, to prove that the Greeks could still humiliate someone, withdrew permanent fighter sqadrons from Cyprus, thus ending my only good posting in the RAF. 24:03
Correct re 56 Squadron and j have pointed this out on my post. I was also in Akrotiri at the time as a young lad - Princes Street - crazy times but I loved it. My old man was on TASF.
Back in the 1990's I worked with a gentleman who was a retired U.S. Army ordnance officer. He was sent the Turkey to advise their army on the Nike-Hercules SAM system. Upon his arrival he found that all the missiles were aimed at Greece, instead of the Soviets...😂
I think the key differences (from this explanation) were that the Turkish Air Force hadore bald officers. And its a good job that the British didn't get involved as they had more near-naked ground crew
@@AlanToon-fy4hgapart from the fact that Greece left NATO at 1974 until Turkey accept them at 1980, air defence batteries must be towards Bulgaria. Turkish jets were flying unarmed at Aegan sea until Greece shot a Turkish jet 1990s. Since 90s Turkish jets are armed to teeth and Greece can't touch them, that's why we hear many cries from Greece nowadays. Air Defence site of Istanbul is designed to counter raids coming from west and north to this day. At İzmir NATO landcom also expected raids from Bulgaria so they might be towards Greece too. But at east of country literally 1000+ kms away from Greece all things towards Soviet Union.
Btw, the Greek Air Force plans to restore their sole remaining Curtiss Helldiver to flying status, as they did with the "Greek Spitfire" LF Mk. IX a few years back
That would be cool, I have a soft spot for the SB2C. For some reason it's just a cool aircraft, whatever flaws it had, and it's definitely under appreciated. The crews may not have loved them much (and I suspect that reputation got exaggerated a bit after the war) but they still played a major part in the war and were flown by the thousands of young men through dangerous missions. It's interesting that even the TBF/TBM gets more popular attention, in spite of being not at all the sort of plane that draws attention in the normal course of events.
I love your channel. It's like getting a professional military brief from a professional narrator like Attenborough. I have no idea where you dig up things like NATO/US evals of Greek/Turkish flight training, or their internal force readiness from so long ago, but it's great! Head and shoulders above a "zoom, zoom, count planes, look at Janes!" doc.
Thank you for another extraordinarily well-researched and insightful presentation. This conflict really doesn't get as much coverage as I think it warrants. Although the Cold War was in something of a stagnation, pre-Detente, it's still remarkable the two NATO countries would go toe-to-toe for all the world to witness. I've only been to Cyprus once, but being able to look over the Green Line into the nearly barren Turkish side is forever embedded in my memory.. Great work on this one.
It is important to keep in mind that Greece had a military rule in the 70's and I think since the 60's which was what prompted the Coup made by greek extremists in Cyprus which then led to the turkish military intervention.
@@John-t5f3d Then why do they use a Turkish word 'yoghurt'? Plus when I search origin of Yoghurt, there's nothing points to Greek mainland. The oldest sources we have is Chinese, and they point to Central Asia.
@@batuhanaydn4592 Dishes/foods often have multiple origin points as things are sometimes invented independently of one another. Nomenclature does not necessarily indicate origins though (this is in reference to the fact that the term used in Greek today is indeed Turkish). It is not uncommon for languages of prestige to supplant 'native' languages in certain contexts. During the Ottoman period Turkish and Persian (I think) were the languages used by the court, so they obviously occupied a place of high standing within the empire. It is very possible that non-Turks began introducing Turco-Persian words for new creations but also for dishes and items they had knowledge of since time immemorial. For example, in modern Greek the term 'porta' is used for 'door'. The original Greek term is 'thirras'. 'Porta' was likely introduced during the Roman period. So, does this mean the Greeks did not have doors before they met the Romans? Likewise, the term for 'butcher' in modern Greek is 'hasapi' which I believe is derived from Turkish. The original term for butcher was 'kreopolis'. Again, does this mean that the Greeks did not have butcher shops before they met the Turks? These are only two examples, but there are plenty more. Moreover, regarding new creations, modern Greeks have invented two types of iced coffee that have not been given Greek names. They are named 'frappe' and 'freddo cappuccino/espresso' (French and Italian names). This is likely due to the prestige of French and Italian in modern times as it relates to dining and hospitality in general.
Well for one this is really well researched presentation. It presents the facts and pros and cons of the two adversaries with a calm and impartial manner. As a current active duty HAF officer I must say that it us true that always our strongest point was and is the superior and high standard training (both air and ground crews) and better flexibility in making the best out of the material we have on hand. Bear in mind that even today military assets procurement is basically a political affair and the military rarely get what they really want or the quantity they want to effectively implement their strategic plans....
@@alexandrosgrekski There ARE Greeks and Turks who can be, 100% with you there, but based on what I've seen there's a whole lot of folks with Greek, Turkish, or Balkan-origin names who can't even seem to agree about basic facts like maps. I get it, there's a lot of "history" from that part of the world, and a lot of fresh grievances, but it does mean that the comments section of videos like this can get truly ugly. That said, I appear to be wrong about the comments section here!
Greetings from Buffalo, NY USA! Great videos, very informative and well done. Keep them coming! Pardon the typing errors our power is out due to thunderstorms, i.m typing by candlelight
An interesting fact: TR suffered a lot at that time due to the US embargo, and the elders of that time decided to produce their own weapons, saying that we should rely on our own weapons instead of US weapons. In other words, the secret of TR's current development in weapon technology was not the wishes of Dictator Tayyip, but the efforts of the forward-thinking elders of that time!
but it was tayyip who begane with tech transfer after 2002,,,,, from 1974-2002 aselsan and tai only able to develope ballholders, for there secular engeneers secular eggs
Great video. I'm Turkish and read many memoirs of the pilots and heard stories from them firsthand since my dad was an officer in the army but he was not assigned on a mission to the island, stayed in the mainland. There are many interesting things about the conflict. In 1960s Turkey had limited air operations over the Greek Cypriots, bombed few targets, however neither politically nor logistically was not ready to land forces amphybiously.. During 60s in a recon mission one of our planes was shot down, the pilot Cengiz Topel jumped and landed safely and brutally tortured and killed by Greeks. His body was delivered to Turks. Many pilots mentioned this that in 1974 they have all sworn not to be taken as a prisoner, discharging their pistols to the enemy and reserved the last one for their suicide. Also between Turkey and Cyprus there were fishermen on guard to search and rescue jumped pilots. We were quite impotent in SAR that time. After 60s, Turks made necessary preperations, constructed an army chopper fleet, made accessive training on Anatolian lands that resemble Cyprus since landing there was very steep and tricky due to the mountains. They have also armed the UH-1 s with machine guns with domestic capabilites for self defense. The helicopter troops have made a super successful mission even they have taken serious flak resistence. F-5s were missioned for high level air to air patrolling. Some F-5s were aimed to intercept fighters from Greece if the war would be widen. Some F-100s were in alert to bomb Greek targets in mainland Greece. Very luckily this did not turn into a full scale war. The pilots always mentioned that the maintenance crews were real heroes so that they worked as superhumans to repair the damaged and hit aircraft even in extreme heat and humidity of the Turkish summer. Greek cypriots who are fluent in Turkish intercepted Turkish radios since both parties were using the same US equipment. In the first days Turkish side became aware and asked personal questions to ınderstand if they are genuine pilots missioned on the ground as the controllers. Turkish pilots adore their F-100s, always said that the aircraft was super strong and even hit several times, was still airborne and took them back home. I think in TurAF F-4s and now F-16s were so much loved, I am not sure if they had similar feelings amongst F-5s or F-104s. Neither Greece nor Cypriots had an air capacity to intercept any Turkish assets over the island. There was only light flak that was time to time effective. Turks practiced paratrooper operations also. They made continous exeecises prior to the operation. There were remarks from Turkish soldiers that the Greek regiment fought well in the first night and gave hard time to the exhausted Turkish side in the lack of air support but ours, though with considerable losses, managed to hold their positions and by the dawn bombing starts again . Greek or Greek cypriots did not show much resistence and without air support they were destined to loose. What I do not understand is: Turkey warned Greece many times and even had air operations to the island to declare that it would never give up on its rights over the island. After the Coup, Greek Cypriots were busted in their sleep. The first runs of the air operation at dawn many of our pilots mentioned that there were no resistence and it started many hours later. I may understand that they probably did not get the intelligence which is also a huge mistake, but even they did not have the common sense to prepare for an incoming war? Probably they underestimated their enemy's capabilities and dedication.And a bunch of soldiers over the island, can they match a whole determined army against them? How unprofessional and unrealistic. Turkish paratrooper deployments were a first in our history and caught Greeks off guard and also succesfully done. I have many things to share, but if anyone reads it, I don't know. Thank you for the patience and the video. I wish both countries live in peace and anyone who wants to mess with Turkish army must read a bit of history first. Especially trying to get support from bigger allies such as France, US or UK, everyone should double think that their soldiers will not die for you. Peace and negotiations are at upmost importance. Greetings. PS: As a huge mistake, we sadly attacked our ship Kocatepe and sank it in friendly fire. I am sure they learned many things from the war especially to keep communications and intteligence at upmost priority
Son ana kadar Abd ve İngiltere'nin engelleyeceğini düşündüler. Bugün nasıl köpeksek o zaman da öyleydik çünkü. Ama işte Ecevit diye bir adam vardı iktidarda, onu hesap edemediler
Thanks for the info. As a Greek Cypriot from the north, these events were very unfortunate. I was 14 at the time and living in London. The reason why you faced little resistance during the paratroop drop was because the majority of the national guard was in Paphos chasing Makarios against whom they staged the coup. I have read up a lot on this war, and with more information being released, it is clear to me at least that the UK and US wanted Cyprus partitioned because they did not agree with Makarios non aligned policy. The mainland Greek junta not only betrayed the Greek Cypriots by instigating the coup, but also their own men.
@@kemetex3130Kocatepe'yi bombalayan pilotlardan bir tanesi ile tanıştım. Bundan 20 yıl önce rahmetli oldu. Ben de pilot olmak istediğim için konuşurduk hep. O zamanlar 16 yaşındaydım ve bana gözleri yaşlı anlatmıştı. 3 kere geminin üstünden telsiz anonsu yaparak geçtiklerini ama cevap alamadıklarını söyledi. Telsizleri çalîşmasa bile işaretlerle Türk gemisi olduklarıni belirtebilirlerdi demişti. Merkeze Türk gemisi gibi durduğunu söylemelerine rağmen batırın emrini almışlar. Harekattan sonra pilotluğu bırakmıştı. Allah rahmet eylesin.
Great first part to the documentary, i enjoyed it thoroughly, looking forward to the next 3 episodes that you already have on your channel. Fascinating!
I evacuated from Kingsfield to Akrotiri via C130 in the evening of July 22nd. We were escorted due south then up the Egyptian FIR to abeam Akrotiri by a Lightning slightly above and astern while a Phantom took position slightly low and also astern. Both aircraft were very visible through the deployed ramp of the Herc On one of the days immediately preceding the invasion I saw a Vulcan at low-ish level flying east to west a few miles off the north coast of Cyprus I think it was Mr Callahagn who claimed in the House of Commons that the UK had no knowledge of the Turkish pre-invasion military build up … politicians are not known to be very honest
Good illustration of the resources and wealth it takes to effectively develop and maintain a modern air force...I enjoy your videos - 📹 keep up the good work 👍
Correct, I remember I was with the Greek Cypriot military 20 years old. The sad thing the British were stationed in 2 military bases in Cyprus and used their lightnings against the Greek Cypriot positions at the airport bombing and west of pentadaktylos mountain were heavy battles took place and englands allies the Turks were in trouble…..
this is a conflict I know absolutely nothing about I didn't even know it had occurred at all until your community post mentioned you would be discussing it for the next few videos so I am utterly fascinated to learn more about the events in Cyprus
That’s why we must go back to reading books instead of relying uniquely on pre-digested videos for our information. The media at the time right until early 1975 was full of this conflict that made more victims on Cyprus, including the 🇺🇸 ambassador there, shot dead by a sniper. America 🇺🇸 at the time was still reeling from the fall of POTUS Nixon, & new President Gerald Ford just picked Senator Nelson Rockefeller for veep, who promptly declared ‘If I were a Greek, I’d be grateful to the Turks !’
As a 17 year old British soldier I was sent to Cyprus just after the conflict started until UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence) was declared, which split the island in two. At the time I had just joined 2nd Troop C Sqn (Squadron), 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards. A few months prior to this event we had parked our Chieftain main battle tanks and been issued with Mk 2 Ferret Scout Cars, 1st Troop received Mk 5 Ferrets with 4x Swingfire ATG missiles. We were then called the British Independent Armoured Recce Sqn. We were in the North half having watched the Turkish landings in Kyrenia. We were most likely the last people to freely cross from North to our base in the South. Now 50 years later I look back at my photos from back then and wonder how we survived.
Just wondering, were you guys attacked or intimidated by any of the two sides in any way? BEcause the Greeks did not have a genuine love for the Brits and Turkish side was basically taking over the island, and you seem to be the sitting ducks there with rather a small force caught in the crossfire.
@@hubiraithegreat Initialy we were there to protect the British Sovereign Bases, in my troops case Akrotiri. After about a week we were sent North and in a lay-by became UK troops. At first we had no white paint to paint the scout cars only two small UK stickers and one large UN flag per Troop. We did come under attack on occasions, but as far as I know only from the Turkish side, the Greeks were very friendly towards us. We did also receive casualties. It was extremely stressful being in the middle and ignored by both sides.
@@dfxl6587 It is really amazing to hear the British side of things. Did they arrack you on purpose or did they mistake you for Greeks? As far as I know the Turkish government had a meeting with the Brits and Americans just before the operation. So it seems it was still an everyone for his own life kind if situation it seems. Lucky it did not turn into a new Suez crisis.
@@hubiraithegreat We were attacked both when carrying camouflage paint and when in white paint. By Turkish ground troops and by their aircraft. I have a couple of observations, firstly they were so poorly trained that landing a shell in the right county would be an achievement, so our involvement would be accidental. Secondly, I believe they did not want us observing and reporting some of the atrocities they were allegedly committing so we were “encouraged” to leave a particular area, who knows, it was all so fast moving and confusing, particularly when aged 17.
@@dfxl6587 sen ve siz Yunanların yanında oldunuz tarafsız kalmadınız, Yunan birliklerine Türk Ordusunun konumlarını koordinatlarını telsizlerinizle bilgilendirerek Kahraman Türk askerlerine havan ve top atışlarını yaptırarak Şehit ettiniz....Yaşın ne olursa olsun hangi üniformayı da giyersen giy düşmanımıza yardım eden de düşmanımızdır. Saygılarımla
23:34 total nonsense!!! - where did you get your information from?. There was a permanent fighter squadron stationed at Akrotiri in July 74 - 56 squadron Lightning’s. When the emergency happened a squadron of F4 phantoms was also flown out from the UK. How do I know this - I lived in Akrotiri at the time and my dad was an an airframe fitter on TASF ( Transit Air Servicing Flight). 56 squadron Lightning’s were being scrambled all the time to intercept Syrian MiGs (with Russian pilots) who regularly tested air defences at Akrotiri. Apart from that a good video.
In the spring of 1988 I was in the Canadian army station in Lahr West Germany at the time the RCAF was transitioning from the F104 to the F18 instead of scrapping the star fighter it was offered to other NATO members Turkey expressed interest so the last squadron of Canadian star fighters flew to Turkey to drop off the fighters.
4:53 somehow the math about the Phantoms range does not add up to me. The F-4's ferry range with 3 tanks was some 4000 km. Add the mentioned CAP configuration (AIM-7s & 9s) you'd still have enough range to loiter over Cyprus more than the mentioned 15 - 20 minutes. Some sharing of used information sources would be very interesting.
peki sen kıbrıslı türklerin köylerden toplanıp kurşuna dizildiğini biliyormusun hatta bu toplu mezarların birleşmiş milletler gözetiminde açıldığını ve burdan çıkan cesetlerin türk kadın ve çocukların olduğunu biliyormusun birleşmiş milletler arşivlerini saklıyor açmıyor fakat o zaman ait resimler ve onları görmüş konuşmayan UN askerleri subayları var sen bnce önce EOKA a ve EOKA b teşkilatları neden kuruldu onu öğren makarios rum liderine neden darbe yaptılar onu öğren 1 aralık 1963 te EOKA b teşkilatı ne yapmaya başladı onu öğren kıbrısta yaşayan türk halkını katledip adayı yunanistana bağlamak sadece yunan projesi değildir bu işin arkasında art niyetli bürokratlar da vardır benim insanlarımı kurşuna dizip gömen darbe sırasında kendi insanını vuran ve bunu türkler yaptı diye anlatan zihniyet tek taraflı düşünen yozlaşmış bir zihniyettir ben bu gün rumlar ile karışıp aynı kafede oturuyorum geçmiş geçmişte kalmıştır fakat hala daha türk ordusuna işgalci diyenler gitsin amerikaya baksın israile baksın fransaya baksın ingiltereye baksın onlar tarihin her aşamasında hep işgal edip sömürdüler sivilleri öldürüp hiçbirşey olmamış gibi yaptılar biz barışı hep savunduk kimseye kin tutmayız fakat bana dokunanı yakmaktan geri durmadım durmam bana gülümser iyi davranırsan ben sana on katını gülümserim merak etme ben aynayım bana nasıl bakarsan o yüzü karşında görürsün yeni nesile diyeceğim şudur barış huzur içinde yaşayalım beraber çalışıp insanlığı geleceğe taşıyalım ırkcılık kincilik ve kötülükten uzak duralım saygılar.
The Greeks wanted enosis, in some respects they didn't, also the Junta of colonels lost power shortly after, shades of Argentina, a lost war (Skirmish) led in both cases to the overthrow of a military dictatorship.
Argentina started an offensive war to distract from the troubles at home, Cyprus, and by extension, Greece was forced into a defensive war. I'd say not much of a parallel
@@VaseTheWarlord Both dictatorships were Cia driven and supported, and in general many similarities can be drawn from their rise to power to their downfall.
Very accurate information. One problem tho, you used photographs of the early 90s F-4E S.R.A. Phantom IIs of the H.A.F and early 00s of the F-4E A.U.P P.I.2000 Phantom II of H.A.F., it would be better to use some old picture of the Phantom with the SEA Camouflage scheme.
Another excellent video, keep it up! To those who think that the comment section will be uncivilized and messy, my condolences. Do not let that popcorn go to waste though. Trolls haven't found this channel yet, and I hope it stays like this. About the history, it is a sad invasion of a sovereign country by a NATO member state that gets even sadder considering 3 specific events that could have possibly prevented it's (partial) success. 1) If the coup in Cyprus had not spread chaos in the Cyprus National Guard units and those were still deployed in their predetermined defensive positions, and not around the capital, they could have repelled the landings and deny a securing of a beachhead to the invading force. Turks landed unopposed or found very little resistance in the initial stages of the invasion. 2) A flight of 8 HAFs F-4Es armed with MK-20 cluster bombs with 2 more Phantoms in air defense role, were ready to take off from Heraklion in Crete to strike the beachhead before it was strengthened, only to never receive the order to proceed. 3) Finally, 2 state of the art at the time, Hellenic Navy type 209 submarines that were near the west coast of Cyprus preparing to destroy the attacking landing fleet, received recall orders, without the reason of these orders ever being made public. It is my personal opinion that Greece was under pressure from NATO, the US and the UK to not interfere and let Cyprus succumb to it's predetermined fate. PS: There are reports that RAF Lightnings were indeed deployed in Akrotiri at the time and flew CAP missions during the invasion.
So right 1974 Was a SET UP war against us Cypriots to be lost Turkey's air force, actually bombed our major army units in their camps, on their morning sleep actually Even, IF, in the Cypriots National guard headquarter had all the right informations about the Turkey's preparation for the invasion
You should definitely check the memoirs of the turkish general Bedrettin Demirel, who was in command of the invasion force, where he describes how close the turks came in to total failure of the operation due to bad planning, poor logistics, low morale and numerous other issues he witnessed. For an example, he writes that the 50th Infantry Regiment lost its commanding officer and its executive officer (KIA) shortly after disembarking, practically leaving the whole unit in disarray and basically combat ineffective. The conclusion is that the turks managed to occupy 37% of Cyprus by the skin of their teeth, and the inactivity of the Cypriots and Greeks in those crucial first hours did them a great favor. Sad indeed...
The RAF Operations Record Books for the unit's on Cyprus during this period could be best described as crap!!! The RAF had a publication that details how ORB's are to be compiled and the last chapter is called "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly". That chapter had examples of records complied which were considered by the document author as the chapter title describes. There were a whole bunch of records from the RAF units on Cyprus that were covered in the Bad category which the author said, these document covered the period of a major emergency and told the reviewer 30 years later nothing!! I knew a few people who were on Cyprus during the invasion who have told me stories about missiles being fired at Turkish Aircraft and Lightning's doing Barrel rolls around Turkish F-100's. The missile story may be to do with an attack by a F-100 on 280 Signals Unit on Troodos, I know it got strafed as I worked for a Guy who was there at the time and he did say somebody fired a missile at the Hun (somebody on one forum said it was a Blowpipe from an army unit which missed). 56 Squadron were on the Island with Lightings and a detachment of Phantoms from RAF Coningsby was deployed. There was also 112 Squadron with their Bloodhound 2's at Paramali West.
@@sercuninyo Look, I was not there to witness the invasion with my own eyes, I only talk about what the Turkish general Demirel wrote in his memoirs. Do you think that he was a traitor and he wanted to tarnish the image of the mighty turkish army that fought bravelly, or maybe that he lied about the faulty plan that actually somehow worked, to make Cypriots feel even worse by losing from such an easy to throw in the sea force? I personally believe that he was very professional and accurate in his narrative, and he only pointed out all the things that went wrong to prevent them from happening again, and thus making turkish armed forces better in the future. If that insults you, I don't know what to say to you. By the way, any good military strategist, would choose every time good luck over a relatively good plan, cause no plan survives after the first contact with the enemy.
Those at soldiers with the long feather at 2:52 are actually Italian Army Alpini (mountain troops) and those vehicles are not Jeep, that on the left is FIAT Campagnola. That F104 at 8:05 is an Italian Air Force airplane.
I remember a Rahan Lurie 1974 cartoon in Newsweek magazine about this war : NATO sword-wielding knight in full medieval armour moving forward, with the rear plate missing revealing his flowered 🩲
As an avid follower of Cold War militaries, great video ! You mention that RAF didn't have any permanent aircraft presence at Cyprus in 1974. I thought 56 sqn was still stationed there with Lightning? Did 9 sqn also have presence with Vulcan?
Lie, I am Greek Cypriot and fought in 1974, the Brit’s have had 2 airforce bases on Cyprus heavily equipped they &led daily their fighters over Cyprus they also took part in many American missions prior to 1974 like Suez Canal bombing, 1967 against Arabs on the side of their Masters Israel, investigate…
@@andrigeogiou8420my man, this conflict wasn’t even close to equal, even if Cypriot troops received this order (smells like bullshit) it wouldn’t make any difference.
I love your content, but is there a way for you to normalize your narration audio track? The narration usually starts clear but it trails off at times, like you're getting further from the microphone or something.
I am Greek and I know that the Greek resin of 1967-1974 gave the opportunity to Turkey to invade Cyprus .They caused it without being prepared for a potential Grecoturkish war or even apply the defense plans Greece had in case of Turkish invasion in Cyprus...The F4s were in usable condition and with the use of our 209 type submarines would certainly stop the invasion. Ten of those were sent to Crete from their base in Peloponese loaded with CBU bombs in order to attack the beachead but the governors did not had the guts to risk a war with Turkey and never gave the order to take off......
Before making fascist Greek propaganda, you should have also told us that Turkey had to carry out this operation to prevent the Turks on the island from committing genocide.
Fascists could also be called the Turks and their genocides against Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and other ethnicities within Turkey before Ataturk's reforms, if so many surrounding countries do not have a good image of Turkey, there must be a reason.
@@prof.hektor4048 Turks were invaders from central asia to anatolia and mainland Greece So Greeks had to fight for their freedom against nomads from mongolia Turks invaded to Greek lands not the opposite
too bad that we do not get along with our greek neighbors on a political/official level. must be because we are practically the same people and there is no fight like a family dispute. totally unrealistic at the moment, but if we could only overcome our differences and harvest the beauty & wealth of the Aegean cooperatively the whole world would envy us.
I am a bit confused that I must make this clear here for you and all other commentators from other countries around the world that have no clue about the status quo in the Aegean. I am also overly tired of reading ignorant people stating that we both were given a paradise to live on and we are ruining it, that we must stop arguing over nonsense and other stories about unicorns and fairies... One of the two countries is 90% at fault and that is not my country. Turkey acts aggressively and Greece REacts in defense, period. Turkey acts like the big fat bully in school that demands your snack allowance just because he can beat you. Oversimplified, yes, but this is how things are for around a century. There is no point trying to downplay it, like saying that the aggression is equal from both sides, cause it's just plainly nuts for a country of 86 million to say that it feels threatened by one of 10 million. Sure I would love to have Canada or Norway as a neighbor, but you get what you get and try to make do. If your government changes it's policy then we can get along just fine, cause we have nothing to argue about as people and both countries can truly flourish from that. PS: Do me a favor and try to explain to our fellow viewers and commentators why your government threatens my country with a casus belli since the 70s and also the meaning of Mavi Vatan or Blue Homeland concept. Thanks.
@@aegeanphantom Lemme give it a try, Aderfi mou. Beginning is half of finishing. If I end up screwing up things in an embarrassing blunder, please forgive me for my fault. 1-) CASUS BELLI = REASON FOR WAR DECLARATION 2-) BLUE HOMELAND Both are aimed at preventing the Aegean Sea from becoming a Greek lake where we Turks are not even allowed to put in our feet for a chill. Extending your range of maritime sovereignty from 6 miles to 12 miles practically implies that each and every Turkish boat floating currently on the Aegean coastline of Turkey needs a visa + a sail permit in order to steer even 400 meters offshore from the western coast of the Turkish mainland. Sorry, but there is NO WAY we can let this happen. The Aegean sea is NOT A GREEK SEA accessible only to Hellenic people. It is a common body of water between our countries and both of our people have the very right to benefit from the underwater and above water resources of this sea. BLUE HOMELAND is a newer version of the same cause & concept stating that the INTERNATIONAL WATER BORDERS of the Aegean as well as the Mediterranean Sea must not be expanded with the objective of imprisoning Turkish people to their mainland territories with as much access to the commercial waterways of the Aegean Sea as none.
@@excelgazialimuhiddinhacibekir First of all, "Aderfi mou" (Αδερφή μου) translates to "my Sister", so I will pretend that I didn't read that, unless you are ok with me addressing you as "Kız kardeşim"... To our point now. What your, presumably, fellow countryman @Dicka899 calls "typical Greek nationalist propaganda", is the official possition of the Hellenic Republic about the matter and it reads as follows: [The extent of the territorial littoral zone of Greece was defined in 1936 at 6 nautical miles from the coast (Law 230/1936 and later Law 187/1973). However, the limit of 10 nautical miles of coastal zone with regard to airspace was expressly maintained, based on the earlier legislation (Decree of 6 September 1931, in conjunction with Law 5017/1931). Based on a customary rule of the Law of the Sea, which is incorporated into the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Greece is entitled to extend to 12 NM its territorial littoral zone. The right to extend the limit of the territorial littoral zone up to 12 NM is sovereign and exercised unilaterally and consequently is not subject to any kind of limitation or exception and is not amenable to challenge by third states (Article 3 of the Convention, which incorporates a rule of customary law, does not set any limitation or exception to this right). The vast majority of coastal states, with very few exceptions, have defined the width of the littoral zone at 12 NM. Turkey itself has extended, as early as 1964, its littoral zone to 12 nautical miles in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Greece, upon ratifying the Convention on the Law of the Sea (Law 2321/1995), expressly stated that it reserves the right to exercise at any time its right to extend its territorial littoral zone to 12 NM. It should be noted that Greece has already extended by law its territorial littoral zone to 12 nautical miles in the Ionian Sea, while as expressly defined in no. 1, par. 2 of Law 4767/2021 through which this extension took place, "The Hellenic Republic reserves for the exercise also in the other regions of its territory its corresponding rights, as they derive from the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea, which reflects customary international law". Casus belli. As a reaction to Greece's legal declaration upon ratification of the Convention on the Law of the Sea (Law 2321/1995) that it reserves the right to exercise at any time its right to extend its territorial littoral zone to 12 NM, the Turkish National Assembly, by its resolution (8/6/1995), authorized the Turkish government, in free rein and in perpetuity, to declare war (casus belli) on Greece (authorization for the use of military force against Greece), in case the latter extends its territorial littoral zone beyond 6 NM in the Aegean. This behavior of Turkey blatantly violates fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter on the prohibition of the use or threat of use of force (Article 2, par. 4), on peaceful resolution (Article 2, par. 3) and on good neighborliness and peaceful coexistence (Preamble). At the same time, it dynamizes the alliance relationship that states participating in the same Alliance must have and goes against the basic principles on which NATO is based (Articles 1 and 2 of the North Atlantic Treaty). The removal of the casus belli has been included among the main criteria for Turkey's accession to the EU, in the context of its obligation to fully respect International Law and good neighborliness which is a fundamental principle on which the European Union has been built. It goes without saying that a candidate state cannot threaten another state with war, much less an EU member and future partner. It is also a necessary condition for the substantial improvement of Greek-Turkish relations and the reduction of tension. It is obvious that efforts to smooth out points of friction and resolve disputes peacefully cannot succeed under the threat of war.] The international Agreement of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has been ratified by 152 countries, including Greece as you read above, but not by Turkey, that nevertheless makes use of its rules governing all uses of the oceans and their resources in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean by declaring 12 NM territorial littoral zone since 1964. Apparently, Turkey finds the international law suitable when it is in its benefit, but chooses to ignore it when the geography of a neighboring country stands in the way of its plans. This is what I am trying to say with my example of the school bully. So no, Aderfi mou, you cannot go against simple geography and international law, barking that the Aegean will never be a Greek lake and similar narratives. And finally, just because you like simple explanations and you are into passive-aggressive commenting, imagine the following. You cannot go and claim the shop next to your shop, because it's in a better position and it attracts more customers. If you do, the shop owner and the police might shoot you...
Akrotiri always fascinated me. I am retired Flight Surgeon and Medical Anthropologist. Do you know of any good military or cultural histories of Cyprus?
@batuhanaydn4592 I am leaving this comment here because for whatever reason I cannot reply to a question asked by batuhanaydn4592 in the thread in which he asked it. The question was: "Then why do they use a Turkish word 'yoghurt'? Plus when I search origin of yoghurt, there's nothing points to Greek mainland. The oldest sources we have is Chinese, and they point to Central Asia." He asked this question in relation to my explaining that the Greeks had been eating a product they called 'oxygala' which translates to 'sharp/sour milk' which is essentially yoghurt. Below is my response to his question: It is very likely that yoghurt was developed independently across different locations. That being said, nomenclature does not necessarily indicate origins. The Greeks nowadays use a variant of the term 'yoghurt' which is Turkish, but there are numerous other examples of this word substitution taking place throughout their history. For example, in modern Greek 'porta' is used for 'door'. Porta is a Latin term and was likely adopted during the Roman period. The original Greek term was 'thyrras'. Did the Greeks not have doors until they met the Romans? Likewise, the Greeks use the word 'hasapi' for 'butcher' which was adopted from Turkish. The original word was 'kreopolis'. Did the Greeks not have butchers until they met the Turks? Those are only two examples, but there are plenty more. Moreover, new creations can also be given names from languages that occupy a position of high standing in various contexts. For example, the modern Greeks have invented two types of iced coffee, frappe and freddo cappuccino/espresso. The names are not Greek words, but French and Italian. This is probably on account of France and Italy being quite prestigious in the world of dining and hospitality in general. During the Ottoman period Turkish and Persian (I think) were the languages of the court and therefore probably had a lot of prestige associated with them throughout the empire. It would not be surprising for non-Turkish populations potentially to have given dishes of their own making Turkish names. Ultimately, all I am saying is that names are not all that important. If you look up the word 'oxygala' you will find that yoghurt existed in the Balkans prior to the Turks. It does not mean that it was invented in the region, simply that it was being consumed several centuries before Christ.
The Republic of Cyprus, which envisaged a single administration on the island, was established by the Zurich and London Agreements signed in 1959 between Turkey, Britain, Greece and the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities in Cyprus. These three signatory countries became the guarantors of the Republic of Cyprus. In the constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, which was established in 1960 in accordance with international treaties, equal political rights and status were given to Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots. After the establishment of the Republic, the Greek Cypriot side continued to make attempts to remove the Turks from state institutions, to end the existence of the Turks on the island and to pave the way to unification with Greece (Enosis). The Republic of Cyprus effectively came to an end in 1963 after the Greek Cypriots annulled the constitution with their unilateral initiatives. In the following period, in line with the Greek Cypriots' Enosis (the annexation of Cyprus to Greece) ambitions, the Turks were excluded from the republic under pressure and at gunpoint. The Greeks saw the Turks on the island as a major obstacle to Enosis. In line with this goal, on 21 December 1963, the Akritas Plan, which took its name from a Greek epic of the 9th century and aimed to make Cyprus a Greek island by eliminating all Turkish Cypriots, was started to be implemented by Greek gangs. Firstly, Turkish Cypriot Zeki Halil and Cemaliye Emirali lost their lives in the Tahtakale neighbourhood of Nicosia on the night of 20 December 1963. In the first attacks launched by the Greeks, 92 Turks were killed and 146 people were injured in Nicosia alone. Greek Cypriot terrorist organisation EOKA militants carried out the first massacre against Turkish Cypriots living in Ayvasıl village of Nicosia on 23 December 1963. 21 Turkish Cypriots who were captured in this village were brutally massacred after their hands were tied and buried in mass graves. Greek Cypriot gangs, on the one hand, continued their attacks in the Kumsal area of Nicosia on 24 December 1963, while on the other hand, Mürüvet İlhan, the wife of Major Nihat İlhan, who served as a doctor in the Turkish Regiment in Cyprus, and her children Murat, Kutsi and Hakan were brutally murdered in the bathtub of their house. During the incidents, 103 Turkish villages were evacuated and 364 Turks were martyred in the incidents that started in 1963 and continued in 1964. The process of oppression and assimilation continued until 15 November 1967. On 15 November 1967, Greek and Greek troops under the command of Grivas attacked Geçitkale and more than 20 Turks were massacred. Martyrdom of Pilot Captain Cengiz Topel The warning flights carried out by the Turkish Air Force were the final move that ended the Greek Cypriot siege around Erenköy. During these warning flights, the F100F jet used by Captain Cengiz Topel was shot down by a ground hit.(8 August 1964) Topel, who managed to escape by parachuting, was taken prisoner near the Greek village where he landed. Captain Topel, who was tortured to death by the Greeks, became the first air war martyr of the republican era. Topel's autopsy report at Nicosia General Hospital: Item 1: His left eye was removed. Item 2: His private parts were crushed and the biceps of both arms were drilled with a drill. Item 3: A concrete nail was driven into the left side of his head. Item 4: His chest was split open from his throat to his navel. Item 5: His lung and heart are missing, incomplete or absent. Unfortunately, another pilot was lost:Martyr Air Pilot First Lieutenant İlker KARTER On 20 July 1974, while on duty at the 8th Main Jet Base 184th Squadron Command, he was shot down by enemy anti-aircraft fire while conducting a reconnaissance flight with his RF-84F "Thunderflash" aircraft during the Cyprus Peace Operation and was martyred by falling down in the Dargeçit area between Beyköy and the sea in Cyprus. Observer James Rayner states: "In the twentieth century, the Greek Cypriots not only brutally murdered innocent Turkish Cypriots in massacres they committed in an anachronistic manner, but also stuffed half-alive people into the pits they dug. Here, in broad daylight, many human corpses in the graves introduce the Greek atrocities to the world public opinion. The bodies of innocent Turkish Cypriots unearthed from the mass graves proved what a miserable creature the Greeks were, who had been practising fiefdom laws on the island for years..." When I was 7 months old, I remember with respect all the veterans and martyrs who brought peace, especially my father(RIP), a member of the Turkish Air Force, who was not around for 4 months, who had no memory of military service..
I don't think that either side had received Phantoms when the war broke out. F-100's of the Turkish AF did succeed in sinking one of their own destroyers....
That wqs probably due to greece having infitrated radio comms with a turkish speaker, after it was found, they took some funny messures to prevent it that actually worked 😂
Wrong analysis with very limited searches. HAF had in its inventory 22 x F-4E with fully trained (in US) Flight crews and technicians and full air-air armament of AIM-9/AIM-7 sparrow. Only problem was the slightly shortage of external fuel tanks (this is the main reason of problems and delays when the aircraft relocated to Iraklion-Crete base on 22.July.1974 in order to be able to attack turkish forces on Cyprus). HAF had 77.5% combat readiness on 20.July.1974 - first day of war (228 combat ready fighter aircraft out of 294). All the info are officially presented on Greek parliament investigation Committee (1986-1988) for Cyprus disaster by HAF Brigadier A.Semertzidis. On 22.July.1974 combat readiness of HAF was at 89%! At the same time turkish air force was in so poor condition that was searching F-5 aircraft spare-parts, rockets and bombs on kadafi libya (abandoned american air bases) in order to be able to perform combat sorties, attacking unarmed Cyprus...Greek Ground Radar stations were in much greater state than turkish, and 2 of them had already modernised 3D radars TPS-43A! You spoke about poor capabilities of HAF fighters on Electronic Warfare? Really!! what were the capabilities back then (1974) of US and Israeli air force in EW?? US they just finish Vietnam war with 10-20% percent success on their air-to-air missiles engagements against Vietnamese Mig-17/Mig-21 (totally lacking flares/chaffs inventory)!!!! same for Israelis on Oct.1973 war with 120+ aircraft lost on Egyptian SAMs...Actually you forget that back then (1974) EW was at its first stages of development even for the most combat ready air forces in the world. turkish air force EW capabilities were non existent. You forget also to mention that HAF air-bases were equipped with 175 armoured aircraft shelters whether turkish air force had nothing back then (they started building aircraft shelters in 80s)...turkish air force, in a war with Greece, would have been destroyed on ground in 24 hours. This was the reason turks withdraw all their combat aircraft to their east turkey air-bases after 22.July.1974. Thanks to kissinger and british they succeeded invading Cyprus.
Well said, Kissinger had blood on his hands over Cyprus as well as Chile. But, let's not forget that Dimitrios Ioannidis who was a coward when the times called for fortitude. He chickened out at crunch time and looked for a way out, rather than confront the Turkish Air Force.
Yeah I love this, I have always been so sick of only hearing about the mighty freaking American Air Forces or maybe the Israelis if you were more lucky its so nice to hear about other nations air battles.
1/3 of way through video. Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? Who am I suppoused to root for? Both Greeks and Turks make equally great kabobs. Greek salad is as good as Turkish toumbuili salad. So who tosses better salad? Greeks or Turks?
I don’t know why Turkey-Greece comparison has to be controversial, comparison makes no sense, never did. Turkey can take over Greece in one night, all know this on both sides of the sea. But both wins when they are good neighbors.
What understatement "...issues of Cyprus during its 'messy' transition from British colonial rule.." Yes. Cyprus was a GREEK island with an 82% Greek majority. The Turks invaded in 1571. Turkey "gave" the island to Britain in 1878 in return for Britain using diplomacy to stop Russia from taking Constantiniople (now known as Istanbul) Many Greek Cypriots fought in the British Army or RAF or Royal Navy in WW2. The Greeks wanted to be part of Greece. It was BRITAIN that was responsible for the "mess". The British used force to keep the island from uniting, and enlisted the Turks to help them. One more mess Britain created--just like Palestine and India/Pakistan. The author puts together good videos, but it's important to at least acknowledge who was responsible for the conflict--Britain.
The hunta generals had betrayed Cyprus and made an agreement with the tirks to take a part of Cyprus so that Greece takes the rest, since the generals in Cyprus were from Greece they didn't man the defence of the beaches and the turkish invasion was done without an organised opposition.
Evet doğru ama şunu da söylemek gerekir ki, Türk yönetimi altındaki Ermeniler, Kürtler ve diğer etnik halklar, Osmanlı yönetimi sırasında işlenen zulümlere karşı belli bir güvensizlik duyuyorlar. Dürüst olalım, katliam ve kıyımların sayısı o kadar yaygındı ki. Türkiye'nin birçok komşu ülke tarafından neden pek iyi görülmediği anlaşılabilir.
Greece and Turkey video? The comment section will surely be civil and polite
Clearly lmao
...but I like Kebabs and Souvlaki, don't make me choose. 😭
I'm trying to resist lol
Whatever happened to the 21st century adage 'Wars are moral contests and they're won on the internet, never to challenged on the battlefield'" - Sun Tzu, allegedly?
My take: "Let's settle this over a pot & pint."
😂😂
I was stationed at Incirlik Air Base outside Adana, Turkey from April 1, 1974 to July 1, 1975. I was an U. S. Air Force Security Police Sergeant at the start of this conflict on 20 July, 1974 guarding our F-4s.
First thing the Americans did was download (removal of all special weapons) and secured in bunkers in the Weapons Storage Area. From that first day of the fight, all of the Security cops went to steel pot helmets and the older flak jackets (strung up the sides with laces) until almost the day I left a year later. Blackouts every day (electric was cut) and we were told to cover our barracks windows with blankets for safety. That summer was brutal for those of us that had to wear the extra gear and work those horrible 9 and 3 shifts. I came home weighing 128 pounds soaking wet...and I brought a Turkish wife (Sema) with me. A Methodist Kentucky boy and a Muslim wife. Had 6 months remaining when the Air Force for some reason decided to send me to Malestrom A.F.B. in Montana to be retrained from Aircraft Security to Missile Security. Why? I was told from higher ups that it was my punishment for marrying a Muslim.
Poor Sema never wanted to go back to Turkey and passed away in the late 1980s.
This video brought back a lot of memories. I also worked as Master Surveillance Controller (tower surrounded by fences that detect metal, vibration and ground pressure near the fence line) and would stand on my tower landing and film home movies (Super 8mm) if returning Turkish F-100s coming back to land at Incirlik shot to hell and belly landing in the grass along the flightline.
What a story. Greetings from Turkey.
You should release these movies if they are still available.
I would love to see these movies. Do you plan on sharing them?
Thank you for serving, I'm sorry about your wife.
Hope you and Sema were happy during your time together.
There was a military coup in Greece in 1967 and a fascist junta regime was established. The same Greek junta regime executed another coup in Cyprus in 1974 with the aim of uniting Cyprus with Greece. Greece and Turkey were very close to an all out war. This video is full of technical information but it fails to demonstrate how close a devastating war between Greece and Turkey was.
We are in a similar situation: Putin says we are very close to a World War and we are saying we are not.📝
I remember a late 1974 Newsweek magazine Rahan Lurie cartoon : it shows a NATO knight in full medieval armour, with the missing rear plate, revealing his flowered 🩲
The video was never intended to talk about the war or its impact.
Listen carefully.
@@bronsonperich9430 Hmm, comparing Air Force strengths of Greece of Turkey at the height of the tensions at least calls attention to what could have happened if there was a war.
@@EnginAtik…and leaves it to anyone interested in that to show a bit of initiative and effort AND GO FREAKING RESEARCH IT THEMSELVES!
While the aircraft videos are much loved, I feel the videos on little known or obscure events/conflicts are what really sets your channel apart from others
Good video on the air operations of Turkey and Greece.
My second hitch was US Navy - early 1980s (first hitch was USAF in late 1970s), I was stationed aboard USS Ainsworth FF-1090. She was decommed and given to Turkey in 1994, served as the TCG Ege in the Turkish navy, and decommed in 2005, now serving as a museum display ship at the Inciralti Sea Museum in Izmir, Turkey. So, happily my little ship wasn't scrapped or expended as a target. 😊
Your little ship is 3-4 miles away from me. And still there next to submarine USS Tang which was used in Vietnam war then given to Turkey. I visited them few times. But just recognised today that they were veteran vessels.
Dayum didnt know that u want photos of it?
When I was younger I visited that ship. It is a fascinating museum now. Thanks for sharing your story.
I absolutely love it when a channel puts the effort to teach me something i didn't know about before, this is an interesting undertaking, thank you for the hard work.
Not Cyprus but Rhodes mid 60s .... I'm a 12 year old air-mad brat on Holiday with grandparent
Every morning about 8am or so deafing screams as usually 2 Jets howl down just off the coast
Hotel staff look nervous / annoyed. Other hotel guests grumble 'Greek Airforce - No respect for tourists'.
Me: 'What? Those aren't Greek - look at them!
Those are Turkish F-86 Sabers equipped for ground attack - Look at the weapons clusters - Wow!'
Other guests look at me with fear & horror 'How do you know kid'?
Well the Insignia tell you they're Turkish.
The outer pods are drop tanks
The rest of the clutter are bombs - Its obvious
Oh the indents in the nose are cannon ports of course.
Graceless _____s, they asked, then were not at all happy to have that explained
😆😆🤣🤣
Oh, those poor things! I'm so sorry that their vacation to Biasopolis was interrupted. What I really appreciate about your story is how it shows that people haven't changed. Which is...just wonderful.
I was stationed at Akrotirin 74, I was actually on guard duty the morning the coupe happened., I watched the bombs going off in Limasol across the bay, and saw the RAF Rescue launches power out of their docks, very impressive.
H H G did not deploy Lightnings, 56 Sqn were already stationed there, and yes they did fly cap missions over the British tourist evacuations from the north, although we did hear that we had to ask Turkish permission to fly those missions, apparently the Turks very kindly offerred to provide air cover for the evacuation for us, to protect us from the Greeks.
Later that day we received reinforcements of a Buccaneer Sqn, soon folllowed by a Sqn of Phantoms.
I really dont know where you got your information from, but in 74 there was 56 Lightning Sqn and a Bomber Wing of Vulcans permanently stationed at Akrotiri.
It was not untill 75 that HMG, to prove that the Greeks could still humiliate someone, withdrew permanent fighter sqadrons from Cyprus, thus ending my only good posting in the RAF. 24:03
Correct re 56 Squadron and j have pointed this out on my post. I was also in Akrotiri at the time as a young lad - Princes Street - crazy times but I loved it. My old man was on TASF.
Another great episode. I didn't really know too much about this fight.
I hope you do some more on it.
Back in the 1990's I worked with a gentleman who was a retired U.S. Army ordnance officer.
He was sent the Turkey to advise their army on the Nike-Hercules SAM system. Upon his arrival he found that all the missiles were aimed at Greece, instead of the Soviets...😂
That’s very understandable
I think the key differences (from this explanation) were that the Turkish Air Force hadore bald officers. And its a good job that the British didn't get involved as they had more near-naked ground crew
Back in the 90:s soviet seized to exist!
@bizmyurt8582 This was in the 1970's.
@@AlanToon-fy4hgapart from the fact that Greece left NATO at 1974 until Turkey accept them at 1980, air defence batteries must be towards Bulgaria. Turkish jets were flying unarmed at Aegan sea until Greece shot a Turkish jet 1990s. Since 90s Turkish jets are armed to teeth and Greece can't touch them, that's why we hear many cries from Greece nowadays. Air Defence site of Istanbul is designed to counter raids coming from west and north to this day. At İzmir NATO landcom also expected raids from Bulgaria so they might be towards Greece too. But at east of country literally 1000+ kms away from Greece all things towards Soviet Union.
One of the few channels that gives you the context along with the info
Btw, the Greek Air Force plans to restore their sole remaining Curtiss Helldiver to flying status, as they did with the "Greek Spitfire" LF Mk. IX a few years back
That would be cool, I have a soft spot for the SB2C. For some reason it's just a cool aircraft, whatever flaws it had, and it's definitely under appreciated. The crews may not have loved them much (and I suspect that reputation got exaggerated a bit after the war) but they still played a major part in the war and were flown by the thousands of young men through dangerous missions. It's interesting that even the TBF/TBM gets more popular attention, in spite of being not at all the sort of plane that draws attention in the normal course of events.
@@justforever96
I don’t know why but its ww2 performances were said to be ‘’not markedly superior to those of the Dauntless’’
I love your channel. It's like getting a professional military brief from a professional narrator like Attenborough. I have no idea where you dig up things like NATO/US evals of Greek/Turkish flight training, or their internal force readiness from so long ago, but it's great! Head and shoulders above a "zoom, zoom, count planes, look at Janes!" doc.
Thank you for another extraordinarily well-researched and insightful presentation. This conflict really doesn't get as much coverage as I think it warrants. Although the Cold War was in something of a stagnation, pre-Detente, it's still remarkable the two NATO countries would go toe-to-toe for all the world to witness. I've only been to Cyprus once, but being able to look over the Green Line into the nearly barren Turkish side is forever embedded in my memory.. Great work on this one.
It is important to keep in mind that Greece had a military rule in the 70's and I think since the 60's which was what prompted the Coup made by greek extremists in Cyprus which then led to the turkish military intervention.
I can feel your ongoing pain and can't say it won't fly away.
Btw, yoghurt is Turkish. Not greek!
@@RN.88Cyprus is not Greek island but it is Türk's island since 1571.
@@RN.88 Look up 'oxygala', translated into 'sharp/sour milk'. The Greeks have been consuming yoghurt for millennia.
@@John-t5f3d Then why do they use a Turkish word 'yoghurt'? Plus when I search origin of Yoghurt, there's nothing points to Greek mainland. The oldest sources we have is Chinese, and they point to Central Asia.
@@batuhanaydn4592 Dishes/foods often have multiple origin points as things are sometimes invented independently of one another. Nomenclature does not necessarily indicate origins though (this is in reference to the fact that the term used in Greek today is indeed Turkish). It is not uncommon for languages of prestige to supplant 'native' languages in certain contexts. During the Ottoman period Turkish and Persian (I think) were the languages used by the court, so they obviously occupied a place of high standing within the empire. It is very possible that non-Turks began introducing Turco-Persian words for new creations but also for dishes and items they had knowledge of since time immemorial. For example, in modern Greek the term 'porta' is used for 'door'. The original Greek term is 'thirras'. 'Porta' was likely introduced during the Roman period. So, does this mean the Greeks did not have doors before they met the Romans? Likewise, the term for 'butcher' in modern Greek is 'hasapi' which I believe is derived from Turkish. The original term for butcher was 'kreopolis'. Again, does this mean that the Greeks did not have butcher shops before they met the Turks? These are only two examples, but there are plenty more.
Moreover, regarding new creations, modern Greeks have invented two types of iced coffee that have not been given Greek names. They are named 'frappe' and 'freddo cappuccino/espresso' (French and Italian names). This is likely due to the prestige of French and Italian in modern times as it relates to dining and hospitality in general.
Well for one this is really well researched presentation. It presents the facts and pros and cons of the two adversaries with a calm and impartial manner. As a current active duty HAF officer I must say that it us true that always our strongest point was and is the superior and high standard training (both air and ground crews) and better flexibility in making the best out of the material we have on hand. Bear in mind that even today military assets procurement is basically a political affair and the military rarely get what they really want or the quantity they want to effectively implement their strategic plans....
This was a very comprehensive OoB, very impressed. You even included UK and US assets in the region. Well worth the watch.
I was listening to this on my commute and really enjoying it before it ended suddenly. I hope there will be a part two!
Brave video to release… this one’s comments section will be messy.
Sofar the rabid Türkye crowd seems to be kept in check.
I, for one, have no dog in the fight and have learned my lesson the hard way about interventionism.
@@JGCR59But it seems like your lower kind isn't.
brave how, why messy, what's your ethnicity - since you are implying Greeks and Turks cant speak cleanly and intelligently
@@alexandrosgrekski There ARE Greeks and Turks who can be, 100% with you there, but based on what I've seen there's a whole lot of folks with Greek, Turkish, or Balkan-origin names who can't even seem to agree about basic facts like maps. I get it, there's a lot of "history" from that part of the world, and a lot of fresh grievances, but it does mean that the comments section of videos like this can get truly ugly.
That said, I appear to be wrong about the comments section here!
Greetings from Buffalo, NY USA! Great videos, very informative and well done. Keep them coming! Pardon the typing errors our power is out due to thunderstorms, i.m typing by candlelight
An interesting fact: TR suffered a lot at that time due to the US embargo, and the elders of that time decided to produce their own weapons, saying that we should rely on our own weapons instead of US weapons. In other words, the secret of TR's current development in weapon technology was not the wishes of Dictator Tayyip, but the efforts of the forward-thinking elders of that time!
but it was tayyip who begane with tech transfer after 2002,,,,, from 1974-2002 aselsan and tai only able to develope ballholders, for there secular engeneers secular eggs
Great video. I'm Turkish and read many memoirs of the pilots and heard stories from them firsthand since my dad was an officer in the army but he was not assigned on a mission to the island, stayed in the mainland.
There are many interesting things about the conflict. In 1960s Turkey had limited air operations over the Greek Cypriots, bombed few targets, however neither politically nor logistically was not ready to land forces amphybiously.. During 60s in a recon mission one of our planes was shot down, the pilot Cengiz Topel jumped and landed safely and brutally tortured and killed by Greeks. His body was delivered to Turks. Many pilots mentioned this that in 1974 they have all sworn not to be taken as a prisoner, discharging their pistols to the enemy and reserved the last one for their suicide. Also between Turkey and Cyprus there were fishermen on guard to search and rescue jumped pilots. We were quite impotent in SAR that time.
After 60s, Turks made necessary preperations, constructed an army chopper fleet, made accessive training on Anatolian lands that resemble Cyprus since landing there was very steep and tricky due to the mountains. They have also armed the UH-1 s with machine guns with domestic capabilites for self defense. The helicopter troops have made a super successful mission even they have taken serious flak resistence.
F-5s were missioned for high level air to air patrolling. Some F-5s were aimed to intercept fighters from Greece if the war would be widen. Some F-100s were in alert to bomb Greek targets in mainland Greece. Very luckily this did not turn into a full scale war.
The pilots always mentioned that the maintenance crews were real heroes so that they worked as superhumans to repair the damaged and hit aircraft even in extreme heat and humidity of the Turkish summer.
Greek cypriots who are fluent in Turkish intercepted Turkish radios since both parties were using the same US equipment. In the first days Turkish side became aware and asked personal questions to ınderstand if they are genuine pilots missioned on the ground as the controllers.
Turkish pilots adore their F-100s, always said that the aircraft was super strong and even hit several times, was still airborne and took them back home. I think in TurAF F-4s and now F-16s were so much loved, I am not sure if they had similar feelings amongst F-5s or F-104s.
Neither Greece nor Cypriots had an air capacity to intercept any Turkish assets over the island. There was only light flak that was time to time effective.
Turks practiced paratrooper operations also. They made continous exeecises prior to the operation.
There were remarks from Turkish soldiers that the Greek regiment fought well in the first night and gave hard time to the exhausted Turkish side in the lack of air support but ours, though with considerable losses, managed to hold their positions and by the dawn bombing starts again . Greek or Greek cypriots did not show much resistence and without air support they were destined to loose.
What I do not understand is: Turkey warned Greece many times and even had air operations to the island to declare that it would never give up on its rights over the island. After the Coup, Greek Cypriots were busted in their sleep. The first runs of the air operation at dawn many of our pilots mentioned that there were no resistence and it started many hours later. I may understand that they probably did not get the intelligence which is also a huge mistake, but even they did not have the common sense to prepare for an incoming war? Probably they underestimated their enemy's capabilities and dedication.And a bunch of soldiers over the island, can they match a whole determined army against them? How unprofessional and unrealistic.
Turkish paratrooper deployments were a first in our history and caught Greeks off guard and also succesfully done.
I have many things to share, but if anyone reads it, I don't know. Thank you for the patience and the video. I wish both countries live in peace and anyone who wants to mess with Turkish army must read a bit of history first. Especially trying to get support from bigger allies such as France, US or UK, everyone should double think that their soldiers will not die for you. Peace and negotiations are at upmost importance. Greetings.
PS: As a huge mistake, we sadly attacked our ship Kocatepe and sank it in friendly fire. I am sure they learned many things from the war especially to keep communications and intteligence at upmost priority
O Kocatepe olayı tam bir fiyaskoydu ne yazık .
@@kemetex3130çok üzücü be Hocam. Allah rahmet etsin hepsine.
Son ana kadar Abd ve İngiltere'nin engelleyeceğini düşündüler. Bugün nasıl köpeksek o zaman da öyleydik çünkü. Ama işte Ecevit diye bir adam vardı iktidarda, onu hesap edemediler
Thanks for the info.
As a Greek Cypriot from the north, these events were very unfortunate.
I was 14 at the time and living in London.
The reason why you faced little resistance during the paratroop drop was because the majority of the national guard was in Paphos chasing Makarios against whom they staged the coup.
I have read up a lot on this war, and with more information being released, it is clear to me at least that the UK and US wanted Cyprus partitioned because they did not agree with Makarios non aligned policy.
The mainland Greek junta not only betrayed the Greek Cypriots by instigating the coup, but also their own men.
@@kemetex3130Kocatepe'yi bombalayan pilotlardan bir tanesi ile tanıştım. Bundan 20 yıl önce rahmetli oldu. Ben de pilot olmak istediğim için konuşurduk hep. O zamanlar 16 yaşındaydım ve bana gözleri yaşlı anlatmıştı. 3 kere geminin üstünden telsiz anonsu yaparak geçtiklerini ama cevap alamadıklarını söyledi. Telsizleri çalîşmasa bile işaretlerle Türk gemisi olduklarıni belirtebilirlerdi demişti. Merkeze Türk gemisi gibi durduğunu söylemelerine rağmen batırın emrini almışlar. Harekattan sonra pilotluğu bırakmıştı. Allah rahmet eylesin.
Top notch research and narration. Think the same of your aircraft history videos.
Great first part to the documentary, i enjoyed it thoroughly, looking forward to the next 3 episodes that you already have on your channel. Fascinating!
I evacuated from Kingsfield to Akrotiri via C130 in the evening of July 22nd. We were escorted due south then up the Egyptian FIR to abeam Akrotiri by a Lightning slightly above and astern while a Phantom took position slightly low and also astern. Both aircraft were very visible through the deployed ramp of the Herc
On one of the days immediately preceding the invasion I saw a Vulcan at low-ish level flying east to west a few miles off the north coast of Cyprus
I think it was Mr Callahagn who claimed in the House of Commons that the UK had no knowledge of the Turkish pre-invasion military build
up … politicians are not known to be very honest
Unfortunately UK and US helped turks invade
Good illustration of the resources and wealth it takes to effectively develop and maintain a modern air force...I enjoy your videos - 📹 keep up the good work 👍
UK newspapers at the time definitely carried reports of the deployment of Lightnings to Cyprus.
BBC announced the invasion 24 hrs earlier, at 19th of July
Correct, I remember I was with the Greek Cypriot military 20 years old. The sad thing the British were stationed in 2 military bases in Cyprus and used their lightnings against the Greek Cypriot positions at the airport bombing and west of pentadaktylos mountain were heavy battles took place and englands allies the Turks were in trouble…..
this is a conflict I know absolutely nothing about
I didn't even know it had occurred at all until your community post mentioned you would be discussing it for the next few videos
so I am utterly fascinated to learn more about the events in Cyprus
That’s why we must go back to reading books instead of relying
uniquely on pre-digested videos for our information.
The media at the time right until early 1975 was full of this conflict that made more victims on Cyprus, including the 🇺🇸 ambassador there, shot dead by a sniper.
America 🇺🇸 at the time was still reeling from the fall of POTUS Nixon, & new President Gerald Ford just picked Senator Nelson Rockefeller for veep, who promptly declared
‘If I were a Greek, I’d be grateful to the Turks !’
As a 17 year old British soldier I was sent to Cyprus just after the conflict started until UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence) was declared, which split the island in two. At the time I had just joined 2nd Troop C Sqn (Squadron), 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards. A few months prior to this event we had parked our Chieftain main battle tanks and been issued with Mk 2 Ferret Scout Cars, 1st Troop received Mk 5 Ferrets with 4x Swingfire ATG missiles. We were then called the British Independent Armoured Recce Sqn.
We were in the North half having watched the Turkish landings in Kyrenia. We were most likely the last people to freely cross from North to our base in the South.
Now 50 years later I look back at my photos from back then and wonder how we survived.
Just wondering, were you guys attacked or intimidated by any of the two sides in any way? BEcause the Greeks did not have a genuine love for the Brits and Turkish side was basically taking over the island, and you seem to be the sitting ducks there with rather a small force caught in the crossfire.
@@hubiraithegreat Initialy we were there to protect the British Sovereign Bases, in my troops case Akrotiri. After about a week we were sent North and in a lay-by became UK troops. At first we had no white paint to paint the scout cars only two small UK stickers and one large UN flag per Troop.
We did come under attack on occasions, but as far as I know only from the Turkish side, the Greeks were very friendly towards us. We did also receive casualties.
It was extremely stressful being in the middle and ignored by both sides.
@@dfxl6587 It is really amazing to hear the British side of things. Did they arrack you on purpose or did they mistake you for Greeks? As far as I know the Turkish government had a meeting with the Brits and Americans just before the operation. So it seems it was still an everyone for his own life kind if situation it seems. Lucky it did not turn into a new Suez crisis.
@@hubiraithegreat We were attacked both when carrying camouflage paint and when in white paint. By Turkish ground troops and by their aircraft. I have a couple of observations, firstly they were so poorly trained that landing a shell in the right county would be an achievement, so our involvement would be accidental. Secondly, I believe they did not want us observing and reporting some of the atrocities they were allegedly committing so we were “encouraged” to leave a particular area, who knows, it was all so fast moving and confusing, particularly when aged 17.
@@dfxl6587 sen ve siz Yunanların yanında oldunuz tarafsız kalmadınız, Yunan birliklerine Türk Ordusunun konumlarını koordinatlarını telsizlerinizle bilgilendirerek Kahraman Türk askerlerine havan ve top atışlarını yaptırarak Şehit ettiniz....Yaşın ne olursa olsun hangi üniformayı da giyersen giy düşmanımıza yardım eden de düşmanımızdır. Saygılarımla
The phot at 5:26 is very cool - I'd never see it before.
You can find it at NATOs website.
Interesting look at a usually overlooked bit of history.
India vs. Pakistan series, next.
Yes please. The comments will be pure gold lmao.
@@SounakDas-zb3xc"Hey stinky ew no shoes marketplace go scam someone" or some other just random nonsense too
There would be like 5 different conflicts at least (if we're talking peer conflicts) to make videos on lol
Hindu nationalists and fanatics will flood the comments
This channel is so awesome❤
23:34 total nonsense!!! - where did you get your information from?. There was a permanent fighter squadron stationed at Akrotiri in July 74 - 56 squadron Lightning’s. When the emergency happened a squadron of F4 phantoms was also flown out from the UK. How do I know this - I lived in Akrotiri at the time and my dad was an an airframe fitter on TASF ( Transit Air Servicing Flight). 56 squadron Lightning’s were being scrambled all the time to intercept Syrian MiGs (with Russian pilots) who regularly tested air defences at Akrotiri.
Apart from that a good video.
In the spring of 1988 I was in the Canadian army station in Lahr West Germany at the time the RCAF was transitioning from the F104 to the F18 instead of scrapping the star fighter it was offered to other NATO members Turkey expressed interest so the last squadron of Canadian star fighters flew to Turkey to drop off the fighters.
we love to fly junk - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Lockheed_F-104_Starfighter_operators#Turkey
Excellent video,many thanks.
Very interesting examination of an underreported conflict. Mahalo from Maui!
4:53 somehow the math about the Phantoms range does not add up to me. The F-4's ferry range with 3 tanks was some 4000 km. Add the mentioned CAP configuration (AIM-7s & 9s) you'd still have enough range to loiter over Cyprus more than the mentioned 15 - 20 minutes. Some sharing of used information sources would be very interesting.
peki sen kıbrıslı türklerin köylerden toplanıp kurşuna dizildiğini biliyormusun hatta bu toplu mezarların birleşmiş milletler gözetiminde açıldığını ve burdan çıkan cesetlerin türk kadın ve çocukların olduğunu biliyormusun birleşmiş milletler arşivlerini saklıyor açmıyor fakat o zaman ait resimler ve onları görmüş konuşmayan UN askerleri subayları var sen bnce önce EOKA a ve EOKA b teşkilatları neden kuruldu onu öğren makarios rum liderine neden darbe yaptılar onu öğren 1 aralık 1963 te EOKA b teşkilatı ne yapmaya başladı onu öğren kıbrısta yaşayan türk halkını katledip adayı yunanistana bağlamak sadece yunan projesi değildir bu işin arkasında art niyetli bürokratlar da vardır benim insanlarımı kurşuna dizip gömen darbe sırasında kendi insanını vuran ve bunu türkler yaptı diye anlatan zihniyet tek taraflı düşünen yozlaşmış bir zihniyettir ben bu gün rumlar ile karışıp aynı kafede oturuyorum geçmiş geçmişte kalmıştır fakat hala daha türk ordusuna işgalci diyenler gitsin amerikaya baksın israile baksın fransaya baksın ingiltereye baksın onlar tarihin her aşamasında hep işgal edip sömürdüler sivilleri öldürüp hiçbirşey olmamış gibi yaptılar biz barışı hep savunduk kimseye kin tutmayız fakat bana dokunanı yakmaktan geri durmadım durmam bana gülümser iyi davranırsan ben sana on katını gülümserim merak etme ben aynayım bana nasıl bakarsan o yüzü karşında görürsün yeni nesile diyeceğim şudur barış huzur içinde yaşayalım beraber çalışıp insanlığı geleceğe taşıyalım ırkcılık kincilik ve kötülükten uzak duralım saygılar.
Please do a MiG-19 show. Also something about the Lockhed XF-90 would be awesome too. Love these vids.
More information I didn't have on the conflict. Thanks!
The Greeks wanted enosis, in some respects they didn't, also the Junta of colonels lost power shortly after, shades of Argentina, a lost war (Skirmish) led in both cases to the overthrow of a military dictatorship.
Argentina started an offensive war to distract from the troubles at home, Cyprus, and by extension, Greece was forced into a defensive war. I'd say not much of a parallel
@@VaseTheWarlord Both dictatorships were Cia driven and supported, and in general many similarities can be drawn from their rise to power to their downfall.
Very accurate information. One problem tho, you used photographs of the early 90s F-4E S.R.A. Phantom IIs of the H.A.F and early 00s of the F-4E A.U.P P.I.2000 Phantom II of H.A.F., it would be better to use some old picture of the Phantom with the SEA Camouflage scheme.
Good to see that the comment section is relatively tame
I swear it’s just westerners either claiming Turks and Greeks are savages or themselves trying to start fires by attacking Turks.
quite objective video. Thanks
Another excellent video, keep it up! To those who think that the comment section will be uncivilized and messy, my condolences. Do not let that popcorn go to waste though. Trolls haven't found this channel yet, and I hope it stays like this. About the history, it is a sad invasion of a sovereign country by a NATO member state that gets even sadder considering 3 specific events that could have possibly prevented it's (partial) success.
1) If the coup in Cyprus had not spread chaos in the Cyprus National Guard units and those were still deployed in their predetermined defensive positions, and not around the capital, they could have repelled the landings and deny a securing of a beachhead to the invading force. Turks landed unopposed or found very little resistance in the initial stages of the invasion.
2) A flight of 8 HAFs F-4Es armed with MK-20 cluster bombs with 2 more Phantoms in air defense role, were ready to take off from Heraklion in Crete to strike the beachhead before it was strengthened, only to never receive the order to proceed.
3) Finally, 2 state of the art at the time, Hellenic Navy type 209 submarines that were near the west coast of Cyprus preparing to destroy the attacking landing fleet, received recall orders, without the reason of these orders ever being made public.
It is my personal opinion that Greece was under pressure from NATO, the US and the UK to not interfere and let Cyprus succumb to it's predetermined fate.
PS: There are reports that RAF Lightnings were indeed deployed in Akrotiri at the time and flew CAP missions during the invasion.
So right
1974
Was a SET UP war against us Cypriots to be lost
Turkey's air force, actually bombed our major army units in their camps, on their morning sleep actually
Even, IF, in the Cypriots National guard headquarter had all the right informations about the Turkey's preparation for the invasion
You should definitely check the memoirs of the turkish general Bedrettin Demirel, who was in command of the invasion force, where he describes how close the turks came in to total failure of the operation due to bad planning, poor logistics, low morale and numerous other issues he witnessed. For an example, he writes that the 50th Infantry Regiment lost its commanding officer and its executive officer (KIA) shortly after disembarking, practically leaving the whole unit in disarray and basically combat ineffective. The conclusion is that the turks managed to occupy 37% of Cyprus by the skin of their teeth, and the inactivity of the Cypriots and Greeks in those crucial first hours did them a great favor. Sad indeed...
The RAF Operations Record Books for the unit's on Cyprus during this period could be best described as crap!!! The RAF had a publication that details how ORB's are to be compiled and the last chapter is called "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly". That chapter had examples of records complied which were considered by the document author as the chapter title describes. There were a whole bunch of records from the RAF units on Cyprus that were covered in the Bad category which the author said, these document covered the period of a major emergency and told the reviewer 30 years later nothing!! I knew a few people who were on Cyprus during the invasion who have told me stories about missiles being fired at Turkish Aircraft and Lightning's doing Barrel rolls around Turkish F-100's. The missile story may be to do with an attack by a F-100 on 280 Signals Unit on Troodos, I know it got strafed as I worked for a Guy who was there at the time and he did say somebody fired a missile at the Hun (somebody on one forum said it was a Blowpipe from an army unit which missed). 56 Squadron were on the Island with Lightings and a detachment of Phantoms from RAF Coningsby was deployed. There was also 112 Squadron with their Bloodhound 2's at Paramali West.
@@taloncrown6864By the skin of their teeth? Do you really believe so?
@@sercuninyo Look, I was not there to witness the invasion with my own eyes, I only talk about what the Turkish general Demirel wrote in his memoirs. Do you think that he was a traitor and he wanted to tarnish the image of the mighty turkish army that fought bravelly, or maybe that he lied about the faulty plan that actually somehow worked, to make Cypriots feel even worse by losing from such an easy to throw in the sea force? I personally believe that he was very professional and accurate in his narrative, and he only pointed out all the things that went wrong to prevent them from happening again, and thus making turkish armed forces better in the future. If that insults you, I don't know what to say to you. By the way, any good military strategist, would choose every time good luck over a relatively good plan, cause no plan survives after the first contact with the enemy.
Before starting the video I read comments for 5 mins :D
God i love any pic of the Vigi
Great content 👍
What about the EC-121?
I have to request something of you: subtitles. When made by the creator they make things more accessible and you can even hide jokes there.
Those at soldiers with the long feather at 2:52 are actually Italian Army Alpini (mountain troops) and those vehicles are not Jeep, that on the left is FIAT Campagnola. That F104 at 8:05 is an Italian Air Force airplane.
I remember a Rahan Lurie 1974 cartoon in Newsweek magazine about this war :
NATO sword-wielding knight in full medieval armour moving forward, with the rear plate missing revealing his flowered 🩲
Greek air force had a air force base in crete so, the phantoms didn’t really have to cover much ground
As an avid follower of Cold War militaries, great video ! You mention that RAF didn't have any permanent aircraft presence at Cyprus in 1974. I thought 56 sqn was still stationed there with Lightning? Did 9 sqn also have presence with Vulcan?
Pretty sure 56 Squadron were still there until early 1975.
Lie, I am Greek Cypriot and fought in 1974, the Brit’s have had 2 airforce bases on Cyprus heavily equipped they &led daily their fighters over Cyprus they also took part in many American missions prior to 1974 like Suez Canal bombing, 1967 against Arabs on the side of their Masters Israel, investigate…
I do love these very obscured events I have never heard of.
I liked this informative video
Please tell me this is Part 1!Great video.
Extremely interesting as usual. A look into an unexpected corner of the Cold War.
What's the language in the NATO charter regarding these two going to blows? Had to have come up right?
NATO is to protect against external threats not infighting
@@Dicka899 So what have they with This Infighting?
@@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe what?
@Dicka899 Just what do not cogitate? Comprehend? Understand? Take all the time ya need Bruh!
@@JeffreyWilliams-dr7qe dude what are you asking?
I think the Turkish UH-1 Hueys were the main players here in this war.. Not much about them here unfortunately..
Turkey's helicopters ,passing, full of commandos ,they were just lucky .
Cyprus National guards, had their orders ,for not shutting at them...
@@andrigeogiou8420 Nothing mentioned on them. All about fixed wing aircraft that played little role compared to the choppers.
@@andrigeogiou8420my man, this conflict wasn’t even close to equal, even if Cypriot troops received this order (smells like bullshit) it wouldn’t make any difference.
@@andrigeogiou8420Another lie to cover up the failure...
@@andrigeogiou8420lmao wtf .
I love your content, but is there a way for you to normalize your narration audio track? The narration usually starts clear but it trails off at times, like you're getting further from the microphone or something.
Whatever planes we at that time, none could reach cyprus .The turks had airsuperiority over cyprus.
Excellent video! Would you be willing to cover the Portuguese air power during the Portuguese Colonial War?
I am Greek and I know that the Greek resin of 1967-1974 gave the opportunity to Turkey to invade Cyprus .They caused it without being prepared for a potential Grecoturkish war or even apply the defense plans Greece had in case of Turkish invasion in Cyprus...The F4s were in usable condition and with the use of our 209 type submarines would certainly stop the invasion.
Ten of those were sent to Crete from their base in Peloponese loaded with CBU bombs in order to attack the beachead but the governors did not had the guts to risk a war with Turkey and never gave the order to take off......
Interesting video
Before making fascist Greek propaganda, you should have also told us that Turkey had to carry out this operation to prevent the Turks on the island from committing genocide.
Fascists could also be called the Turks and their genocides against Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and other ethnicities within Turkey before Ataturk's reforms, if so many surrounding countries do not have a good image of Turkey, there must be a reason.
@@DragónVZLA55 mora 1821
@@DragónVZLA55 Peloponnese 1820-1830, i am great great son of the survivals.
@@prof.hektor4048 Turks were invaders from central asia to anatolia and mainland Greece
So Greeks had to fight for their freedom against nomads from mongolia
Turks invaded to Greek lands not the opposite
Well judging by that ready room video, Freddie Mercury would have LOVED the Greek AF.
too bad that we do not get along with our greek neighbors on a political/official level. must be because we are practically the same people and there is no fight like a family dispute. totally unrealistic at the moment, but if we could only overcome our differences and harvest the beauty & wealth of the Aegean cooperatively the whole world would envy us.
I am a bit confused that I must make this clear here for you and all other commentators from other countries around the world that have no clue about the status quo in the Aegean. I am also overly tired of reading ignorant people stating that we both were given a paradise to live on and we are ruining it, that we must stop arguing over nonsense and other stories about unicorns and fairies... One of the two countries is 90% at fault and that is not my country. Turkey acts aggressively and Greece REacts in defense, period. Turkey acts like the big fat bully in school that demands your snack allowance just because he can beat you. Oversimplified, yes, but this is how things are for around a century. There is no point trying to downplay it, like saying that the aggression is equal from both sides, cause it's just plainly nuts for a country of 86 million to say that it feels threatened by one of 10 million. Sure I would love to have Canada or Norway as a neighbor, but you get what you get and try to make do. If your government changes it's policy then we can get along just fine, cause we have nothing to argue about as people and both countries can truly flourish from that.
PS: Do me a favor and try to explain to our fellow viewers and commentators why your government threatens my country with a casus belli since the 70s and also the meaning of Mavi Vatan or Blue Homeland concept. Thanks.
@@aegeanphantomtypical Greek nationalist propaganda huffer
@@aegeanphantom Lemme give it a try, Aderfi mou. Beginning is half of finishing. If I end up screwing up things in an embarrassing blunder, please forgive me for my fault.
1-) CASUS BELLI = REASON FOR WAR DECLARATION
2-) BLUE HOMELAND
Both are aimed at preventing the Aegean Sea from becoming a Greek lake where we Turks are not even allowed to put in our feet for a chill.
Extending your range of maritime sovereignty from 6 miles to 12 miles practically implies that each and every Turkish boat floating currently on the Aegean coastline of Turkey needs a visa + a sail permit in order to steer even 400 meters offshore from the western coast of the Turkish mainland.
Sorry, but there is NO WAY we can let this happen. The Aegean sea is NOT A GREEK SEA accessible only to Hellenic people. It is a common body of water between our countries and both of our people have the very right to benefit from the underwater and above water resources of this sea.
BLUE HOMELAND is a newer version of the same cause & concept stating that the INTERNATIONAL WATER BORDERS of the Aegean as well as the Mediterranean Sea must not be expanded with the objective of imprisoning Turkish people to their mainland territories with as much access to the commercial waterways of the Aegean Sea as none.
@@excelgazialimuhiddinhacibekir First of all, "Aderfi mou" (Αδερφή μου) translates to "my Sister", so I will pretend that I didn't read that, unless you are ok with me addressing you as "Kız kardeşim"...
To our point now. What your, presumably, fellow countryman @Dicka899 calls "typical Greek nationalist propaganda", is the official possition of the Hellenic Republic about the matter and it reads as follows:
[The extent of the territorial littoral zone of Greece was defined in 1936 at 6 nautical miles from the coast (Law 230/1936 and later Law 187/1973). However, the limit of 10 nautical miles of coastal zone with regard to airspace was expressly maintained, based on the earlier legislation (Decree of 6 September 1931, in conjunction with Law 5017/1931).
Based on a customary rule of the Law of the Sea, which is incorporated into the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Greece is entitled to extend to 12 NM its territorial littoral zone.
The right to extend the limit of the territorial littoral zone up to 12 NM is sovereign and exercised unilaterally and consequently is not subject to any kind of limitation or exception and is not amenable to challenge by third states (Article 3 of the Convention, which incorporates a rule of customary law, does not set any limitation or exception to this right). The vast majority of coastal states, with very few exceptions, have defined the width of the littoral zone at 12 NM. Turkey itself has extended, as early as 1964, its littoral zone to 12 nautical miles in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
Greece, upon ratifying the Convention on the Law of the Sea (Law 2321/1995), expressly stated that it reserves the right to exercise at any time its right to extend its territorial littoral zone to 12 NM. It should be noted that Greece has already extended by law its territorial littoral zone to 12 nautical miles in the Ionian Sea, while as expressly defined in no. 1, par. 2 of Law 4767/2021 through which this extension took place, "The Hellenic Republic reserves for the exercise also in the other regions of its territory its corresponding rights, as they derive from the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea, which reflects customary international law".
Casus belli.
As a reaction to Greece's legal declaration upon ratification of the Convention on the Law of the Sea (Law 2321/1995) that it reserves the right to exercise at any time its right to extend its territorial littoral zone to 12 NM, the Turkish National Assembly, by its resolution (8/6/1995), authorized the Turkish government, in free rein and in perpetuity, to declare war (casus belli) on Greece (authorization for the use of military force against Greece), in case the latter extends its territorial littoral zone beyond 6 NM in the Aegean.
This behavior of Turkey blatantly violates fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter on the prohibition of the use or threat of use of force (Article 2, par. 4), on peaceful resolution (Article 2, par. 3) and on good neighborliness and peaceful coexistence (Preamble).
At the same time, it dynamizes the alliance relationship that states participating in the same Alliance must have and goes against the basic principles on which NATO is based (Articles 1 and 2 of the North Atlantic Treaty).
The removal of the casus belli has been included among the main criteria for Turkey's accession to the EU, in the context of its obligation to fully respect International Law and good neighborliness which is a fundamental principle on which the European Union has been built. It goes without saying that a candidate state cannot threaten another state with war, much less an EU member and future partner.
It is also a necessary condition for the substantial improvement of Greek-Turkish relations and the reduction of tension. It is obvious that efforts to smooth out points of friction and resolve disputes peacefully cannot succeed under the threat of war.]
The international Agreement of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has been ratified by 152 countries, including Greece as you read above, but not by Turkey, that nevertheless makes use of its rules governing all uses of the oceans and their resources in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean by declaring 12 NM territorial littoral zone since 1964. Apparently, Turkey finds the international law suitable when it is in its benefit, but chooses to ignore it when the geography of a neighboring country stands in the way of its plans. This is what I am trying to say with my example of the school bully. So no, Aderfi mou, you cannot go against simple geography and international law, barking that the Aegean will never be a Greek lake and similar narratives. And finally, just because you like simple explanations and you are into passive-aggressive commenting, imagine the following. You cannot go and claim the shop next to your shop, because it's in a better position and it attracts more customers. If you do, the shop owner and the police might shoot you...
@@excelgazialimuhiddinhacibekir 👋👋 True comment.
Akrotiri always fascinated me. I am retired Flight Surgeon and Medical Anthropologist. Do you know of any good military or cultural histories of Cyprus?
@batuhanaydn4592 I am leaving this comment here because for whatever reason I cannot reply to a question asked by batuhanaydn4592 in the thread in which he asked it. The question was: "Then why do they use a Turkish word 'yoghurt'? Plus when I search origin of yoghurt, there's nothing points to Greek mainland. The oldest sources we have is Chinese, and they point to Central Asia." He asked this question in relation to my explaining that the Greeks had been eating a product they called 'oxygala' which translates to 'sharp/sour milk' which is essentially yoghurt. Below is my response to his question:
It is very likely that yoghurt was developed independently across different locations. That being said, nomenclature does not necessarily indicate origins. The Greeks nowadays use a variant of the term 'yoghurt' which is Turkish, but there are numerous other examples of this word substitution taking place throughout their history. For example, in modern Greek 'porta' is used for 'door'. Porta is a Latin term and was likely adopted during the Roman period. The original Greek term was 'thyrras'. Did the Greeks not have doors until they met the Romans? Likewise, the Greeks use the word 'hasapi' for 'butcher' which was adopted from Turkish. The original word was 'kreopolis'. Did the Greeks not have butchers until they met the Turks? Those are only two examples, but there are plenty more.
Moreover, new creations can also be given names from languages that occupy a position of high standing in various contexts. For example, the modern Greeks have invented two types of iced coffee, frappe and freddo cappuccino/espresso. The names are not Greek words, but French and Italian. This is probably on account of France and Italy being quite prestigious in the world of dining and hospitality in general.
During the Ottoman period Turkish and Persian (I think) were the languages of the court and therefore probably had a lot of prestige associated with them throughout the empire. It would not be surprising for non-Turkish populations potentially to have given dishes of their own making Turkish names. Ultimately, all I am saying is that names are not all that important.
If you look up the word 'oxygala' you will find that yoghurt existed in the Balkans prior to the Turks. It does not mean that it was invented in the region, simply that it was being consumed several centuries before Christ.
22:28. Wing mounted radar system. Interesting. 😊❤
The title of the video is a bit incompatible with the contents. Also, a lot of the information given sounds dubious. Care to disclose your sources?
The Republic of Cyprus, which envisaged a single administration on the island, was established by the Zurich and London Agreements signed in 1959 between Turkey, Britain, Greece and the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities in Cyprus. These three signatory countries became the guarantors of the Republic of Cyprus. In the constitution of the Republic of Cyprus, which was established in 1960 in accordance with international treaties, equal political rights and status were given to Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots.
After the establishment of the Republic, the Greek Cypriot side continued to make attempts to remove the Turks from state institutions, to end the existence of the Turks on the island and to pave the way to unification with Greece (Enosis). The Republic of Cyprus effectively came to an end in 1963 after the Greek Cypriots annulled the constitution with their unilateral initiatives.
In the following period, in line with the Greek Cypriots' Enosis (the annexation of Cyprus to Greece) ambitions, the Turks were excluded from the republic under pressure and at gunpoint. The Greeks saw the Turks on the island as a major obstacle to Enosis.
In line with this goal, on 21 December 1963, the Akritas Plan, which took its name from a Greek epic of the 9th century and aimed to make Cyprus a Greek island by eliminating all Turkish Cypriots, was started to be implemented by Greek gangs.
Firstly, Turkish Cypriot Zeki Halil and Cemaliye Emirali lost their lives in the Tahtakale neighbourhood of Nicosia on the night of 20 December 1963. In the first attacks launched by the Greeks, 92 Turks were killed and 146 people were injured in Nicosia alone.
Greek Cypriot terrorist organisation EOKA militants carried out the first massacre against Turkish Cypriots living in Ayvasıl village of Nicosia on 23 December 1963. 21 Turkish Cypriots who were captured in this village were brutally massacred after their hands were tied and buried in mass graves.
Greek Cypriot gangs, on the one hand, continued their attacks in the Kumsal area of Nicosia on 24 December 1963, while on the other hand, Mürüvet İlhan, the wife of Major Nihat İlhan, who served as a doctor in the Turkish Regiment in Cyprus, and her children Murat, Kutsi and Hakan were brutally murdered in the bathtub of their house.
During the incidents, 103 Turkish villages were evacuated and 364 Turks were martyred in the incidents that started in 1963 and continued in 1964.
The process of oppression and assimilation continued until 15 November 1967. On 15 November 1967, Greek and Greek troops under the command of Grivas attacked Geçitkale and more than 20 Turks were massacred.
Martyrdom of Pilot Captain Cengiz Topel
The warning flights carried out by the Turkish Air Force were the final move that ended the Greek Cypriot siege around Erenköy.
During these warning flights, the F100F jet used by Captain Cengiz Topel was shot down by a ground hit.(8 August 1964)
Topel, who managed to escape by parachuting, was taken prisoner near the Greek village where he landed. Captain Topel, who was tortured to death by the Greeks, became the first air war martyr of the republican era.
Topel's autopsy report at Nicosia General Hospital:
Item 1: His left eye was removed.
Item 2: His private parts were crushed and the biceps of both arms were drilled with a drill.
Item 3: A concrete nail was driven into the left side of his head.
Item 4: His chest was split open from his throat to his navel.
Item 5: His lung and heart are missing, incomplete or absent.
Unfortunately, another pilot was lost:Martyr Air Pilot First Lieutenant İlker KARTER
On 20 July 1974, while on duty at the 8th Main Jet Base 184th Squadron Command, he was shot down by enemy anti-aircraft fire while conducting a reconnaissance flight with his RF-84F "Thunderflash" aircraft during the Cyprus Peace Operation and was martyred by falling down in the Dargeçit area between Beyköy and the sea in Cyprus.
Observer James Rayner states:
"In the twentieth century, the Greek Cypriots not only brutally murdered innocent Turkish Cypriots in massacres they committed in an anachronistic manner, but also stuffed half-alive people into the pits they dug. Here, in broad daylight, many human corpses in the graves introduce the Greek atrocities to the world public opinion. The bodies of innocent Turkish Cypriots unearthed from the mass graves proved what a miserable creature the Greeks were, who had been practising fiefdom laws on the island for years..."
When I was 7 months old, I remember with respect all the veterans and martyrs who brought peace, especially my father(RIP), a member of the Turkish Air Force, who was not around for 4 months, who had no memory of military service..
I don't think that either side had received Phantoms when the war broke out.
F-100's of the Turkish AF did succeed in sinking one of their own destroyers....
Actualy greece had a few deployed to heraklion but never got to send them over for some reason...
@@antgiat Maybe the U.S. told them not to...
That wqs probably due to greece having infitrated radio comms with a turkish speaker, after it was found, they took some funny messures to prevent it that actually worked 😂
And neither side had in-air refueling... that's keeping them in the neighborhood. They might be able to get a drink from the carrier ka6s.
Thanks
Now now, I'm the token Canadian to keep the peace.
Nice places for a holiday and the foods good 2.
Wrong analysis with very limited searches. HAF had in its inventory 22 x F-4E with fully trained (in US) Flight crews and technicians and full air-air armament of AIM-9/AIM-7 sparrow. Only problem was the slightly shortage of external fuel tanks (this is the main reason of problems and delays when the aircraft relocated to Iraklion-Crete base on 22.July.1974 in order to be able to attack turkish forces on Cyprus). HAF had 77.5% combat readiness on 20.July.1974 - first day of war (228 combat ready fighter aircraft out of 294). All the info are officially presented on Greek parliament investigation Committee (1986-1988) for Cyprus disaster by HAF Brigadier A.Semertzidis. On 22.July.1974 combat readiness of HAF was at 89%! At the same time turkish air force was in so poor condition that was searching F-5 aircraft spare-parts, rockets and bombs on kadafi libya (abandoned american air bases) in order to be able to perform combat sorties, attacking unarmed Cyprus...Greek Ground Radar stations were in much greater state than turkish, and 2 of them had already modernised 3D radars TPS-43A! You spoke about poor capabilities of HAF fighters on Electronic Warfare? Really!! what were the capabilities back then (1974) of US and Israeli air force in EW?? US they just finish Vietnam war with 10-20% percent success on their air-to-air missiles engagements against Vietnamese Mig-17/Mig-21 (totally lacking flares/chaffs inventory)!!!! same for Israelis on Oct.1973 war with 120+ aircraft lost on Egyptian SAMs...Actually you forget that back then (1974) EW was at its first stages of development even for the most combat ready air forces in the world. turkish air force EW capabilities were non existent. You forget also to mention that HAF air-bases were equipped with 175 armoured aircraft shelters whether turkish air force had nothing back then (they started building aircraft shelters in 80s)...turkish air force, in a war with Greece, would have been destroyed on ground in 24 hours. This was the reason turks withdraw all their combat aircraft to their east turkey air-bases after 22.July.1974. Thanks to kissinger and british they succeeded invading Cyprus.
Well said, Kissinger had blood on his hands over Cyprus as well as Chile. But, let's not forget that Dimitrios Ioannidis who was a coward when the times called for fortitude. He chickened out at crunch time and looked for a way out, rather than confront the Turkish Air Force.
My dad told me he was with 54 Sqn RAF, Phantoms. They were there when the Cyprus was invaded mention of them.
İşgal değil barış harekatı cahil ☮️✌️
We may be in a simulation and the aliens running it are having fun
Yeah I love this, I have always been so sick of only hearing about the mighty freaking American Air Forces or maybe the Israelis if you were more lucky its so nice to hear about other nations air battles.
F102 beautiful in that camouflage.
1/3 of way through video. Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? Who am I suppoused to root for? Both Greeks and Turks make equally great kabobs. Greek salad is as good as Turkish toumbuili salad. So who tosses better salad? Greeks or Turks?
The ones that sank 1 of their own ships thinking it the others’
@@minhthunguyendang9900 Clarify the reference.
I expended six months peacekeeping in Cyprus. But apparently someone here hates my typed opinion. Often deleted.
This video should be called the history of Turkish and Greek Air Force.
I don’t know why Turkey-Greece comparison has to be controversial, comparison makes no sense, never did. Turkey can take over Greece in one night, all know this on both sides of the sea. But both wins when they are good neighbors.
Sure thing keyboard warrior 😂
You already saw those warriors in the battlefields also... didn't you?@@georgeloy
But they had plenty of mustaches.
not the turks,,,, in turkish army its not allowed
My uncles were there I’m proud of been Turk
What understatement "...issues of Cyprus during its 'messy' transition from British colonial rule.." Yes. Cyprus was a GREEK island with an 82% Greek majority. The Turks invaded in 1571. Turkey "gave" the island to Britain in 1878 in return for Britain using diplomacy to stop Russia from taking Constantiniople (now known as Istanbul) Many Greek Cypriots fought in the British Army or RAF or Royal Navy in WW2. The Greeks wanted to be part of Greece. It was BRITAIN that was responsible for the "mess". The British used force to keep the island from uniting, and enlisted the Turks to help them. One more mess Britain created--just like Palestine and India/Pakistan. The author puts together good videos, but it's important to at least acknowledge who was responsible for the conflict--Britain.
Isn't it great how Britain and NATO blocked any defense of the island from the Turkish invasion?
Greece dont was in war eith turkey..
I am pretty sure the comments will be civil and well mannered.
A C-47 is a Skytrain, not a Dakota.
Either name is appropriate actually. Dakota is the RAF designation.
@@WALTERBROADDUS RCAF designator, too.
The hunta generals had betrayed Cyprus and made an agreement with the tirks to take a part of Cyprus so that Greece takes the rest, since the generals in Cyprus were from Greece they didn't man the defence of the beaches and the turkish invasion was done without an organised opposition.
A-7s in Central Europe in 1974? Are you sure? Only NATO ally that had them was Portugal and I'm not sure the USAF had them stationed in Europe?
The Greeks also used them. Both nations only acquired the type a few years later, though.
"Being broke stopped the Greek government... (1949)"
2024 "We are still broke af".
I went to Cyprus in 2010, some rude people, lol.
on the Greek site or on the occupy area were the turks are?
While burglars are at the south??
@@Zeus-ez6rfhe says rude lol Turks and rude just dont go in same sentence
@@SahinKeles-d2v Yea turks are all angels 😅
Kıbrıs Türk milletinindir ve Türk yönetimi altında kimsenin kimseyi öldürmediği topraklarda bütün halklar barış içinde yaşamalıdır
Evet doğru ama şunu da söylemek gerekir ki, Türk yönetimi altındaki Ermeniler, Kürtler ve diğer etnik halklar, Osmanlı yönetimi sırasında işlenen zulümlere karşı belli bir güvensizlik duyuyorlar. Dürüst olalım, katliam ve kıyımların sayısı o kadar yaygındı ki. Türkiye'nin birçok komşu ülke tarafından neden pek iyi görülmediği anlaşılabilir.
Mark 1 model zero EyeBall
I was only 11 year olds. When when did the war started....