On Wednesday, 15 March 2023, Her Excellency, the President of the Hellenic Republic, Ms. Katerina Sakellaropoulou, visited the headquarters of the 338^th Squadron at Andravida Air Base, where she was welcomed by the Deputy Minister of National Defence, Mr. Nikolaos Chardalias, and the Chief of Hellenic Tactical Air Force, Lieutenant General (HAF) Georgios Fasoulas.

The visit included a briefing by the Commander of the 117^th Combat Wing, Colonel (HAF) Avraam Kazantzoglou on the Combat Wing’s and 338^th Squadron’s organisation, mission, and operational functions. The Commander of the 338^th Squadron, Lieutenant Colonel (HAF) Leonidas Gavriilidis then made a presentation of the actions and procedures before each flight, followed by a demonstration of the Squadron’s F-4E Phantom II aircraft.

Finally, the President of the Republic and the Deputy Minister of National Defence discussed with the Squadron’s pilots, technicians, and administrative personnel.

It should be noted that the 338^th Squadron was the unit of the recently killed in action Captain (HAF) Efstathios Tsitlakidis and Lieutenant (HAF) Marios – Mihail Touroutsikas, pilot and co-pilot, respectively, of the two-seat F-4E Phantom II aircraft that crashed last month in the sea, 25 nautical miles south of Andravida Air Base, during an extremely demanding training flight.