Aristedes Moraetenes occupies a prominent position in
the Greek Aviation. He was one of the first who attempted an air attack
against a naval target , the first Greek pilot with 9 conformed victories
and the first to receive the British DSO (Distinguished Order Cross) –
an event not to be often repeated with later generations
Born in 1891 he has graduated the
Naval
Academy
in 1910 as an Ensign. During the Balkan wars , in 1912 , he is the
commander of a torpedo boat ; his eyes however look forward to a new
weapon , the plane. In
England
the first aviators belong to the Navy and the reason is that to them this
is a fast moving machine to cover long range reconnaissance beyond the
battleship horizon , notify early the home fleet while at the same time is
able to throw some light bombs against enemy shipping far away from the
typical naval guns range. Additionally most of them were hydroplanes a
very important feature for
Greece
as they needed no special airfield construction to approach the many
islands of the country.
The base of the first two Greek hydroplanes was in
Moudros,
Lesvos
island , opposite to the
Dardanelles
entry. It was then whenMoraetenes
volunteered as observer together with the pilot Michael Moutouses to
operate for a mapping of the enemy ships stationed deeply into the
Dardanelles
. Then he is called to Elefsis , the naval base west of
Athens
where he is trained by the English Commander Pizey as pilot and he then
continues training the rest of his group. At this time a severe epidemic
fever strikes the area of
Attica
and many operations have to cease but after some months the first
hydroplanes bought from
France
arrive , they are fourHenryFarmanF22 and he
becomes the squadron's CO with the grade of the Captain
Near the end of 1916 this
squadron moves to Thsasos island and becomes part of the 2nd British
RNAS operating against Turkish and Germans cruisers – it is now the WW1. There
they will get their first British planes , the
BristolScoutD , some
fine reconnaissance planes that gainedsignificant
reputation .
The
operations over the
Dardanelles
are many and the enemy ships do not dare a sortie into the
Aegean
as their moves are monitored day and night. But the entry of the British and
Greek scout planes are no longer unimpeded : many flak batteries are installed
on the surrounding hills ; luckily the gunners are not that experienced ,
though. In June 1917 ,
Greece
becomes officially the Ally of the British and French forces against
Turkey
. Moraetenes receives officially more planes that
are integrated to the Greek Squadron : SopwithPups and Camels , the AircoDH4 and SopwithBabyandShort 184 hydroplanes. There are enough planes to form
foursquadrons , which are named
H1,H2,H3 and H4 .
BristolScoutD with Greek insignia (1916)
This plane proved to be stable and maneuverable ; together with the Avro
504 have shared most of the reconnaissance roles in WW1 on all fronts. Initially
considered as possible bombers, have been equipped , however, with an external machine gun only.
Occasionally the pilot or observer could through some hand grenades. After WW1
served for a long time as trainer planes
In
January 1918 a serious air attack is developed to bomb the German-Turkish fleet
in the
Dardanelles
consisted mainly of the Geben and
Breslau
cruisers. This time however flak is better organizedand some Turkish planes , manned by German pilots, arrive on
the scene. The fight ends with two Greek planes lost but three Turkish downed ,
all byMoraetenes. Similar fights will continue until the end of the war ; at its
end Moraetenes carries the grade of Commander , he has participated in 40
reconnaissance flights , 80 bombing missions , 19 intercepting missions and has
been credited with 9 air victories , thus awarded the DSO . The British
will make a useful present to him in recognition : a DH9 with the following
phrase painted on it : «
To the Commander A. Moraetenes, D.S.O. ».
DH9 : « To the Commander A. Moraitinis,
D.S.O. ».
DSO ( Distinguished Order Cross )
His
career will end with his early death on the 22nd of December of the same year
(1918) ; as many of the experienced pilots he did ignore the importance of
severe weather developing fast in front of him. While flying from
Thessaloniki
to Athens, the wreckage of his plane will be found on the
Mount
Olympos
