Airforces Tornado tribute

s a country surrounded by

sea on three sides, Turkey’s

maritime air operations

commenced in 1914 with the

establishment of the Ottoman Navy

Flying Service, initially equipped with

the Curtiss F. In 1968 four S-2A

Trackers were purchased from the

Netherlands, to meet Turkey’s NATO

commitments and enhance security.

The 301 Filo (301 Squadron) of

the Türk Deniz Hava Komutanlığı

(Turkish Naval Aviation Command)

was established at Ankara-Etimesgut

in October 1971. Shortly after, the

squadron expanded to 34 aircraft

with the purchase of additional

S-2Es from US. As it awaited the

arrival of the new aircraft, 301 Filo

was relocated to the 6. Ana Jet Üs

Komutanlığı (6th Central Jet Base

Command) in Bandırma. Later

it was moved again to Cengiz

Topel Naval Air Station in Kocaeli.

Today the navy shares the base

with the Turkish Air Force.

Numerous successful missions

were flown with the S-2Es until the

early 1990s. However, technical

problems had begun to appear,

and three Trackers were lost

in accidents in 1992-93. The

aircraft was declared unsafe and

examples were decommissioned

in 1993. Without any aircraft, it

was decided to purchase seven

Trinidad TB-20s to provide training

for the 301 Filo pilots. The

TB-20s were received in 1995.

In the meantime, maritime

missions were the responsibility

of 351 Filo, which had been

established as a helicopter

squadron in 1972.

In the late 1990s the Meltem

project was launched to

procure a modern maritime

patrol aircraft (MPA).

The main duty of the Türk Deniz

Hava Komutanlığı is to locate and

destroy enemy submarines and

surface vessels. It is responsible

for locating and rescuing civilians

involved in accidents at sea.

Naval Command strategy calls

for reinforcement of its aviation

component with new manned and

unmanned aircraft in the short term.

Meltem project

Under an agreement signed

between Turkey’s Savunma

Sanayii Müsteşarlığı (SSM,

Undersecretariat for Defence

Industries) and CASA, nine CN235

aircraft were assembled at Turkish

Aerospace Industries (TAI) facilities

under Meltem I. These aircraft

lacked mission systems – six

were delivered to the Türk Deniz

Hava Komutanlığı and three to the

Turkey

Meltem and more

A

Above: Cengiz Topel Naval Air Station is the operating base of the Turkish Navy’s fi xed-wing fl eet. Serial TCB-701 is the

fi rst ATR 72-600 TMUA that was assigned to 301 Filo. Onur Kurç and Tayfun Yaşar Below: CN235 MPA serial TCB-656 carries

Mk46 lightweight anti-submarine torpedoes under the wing. This aircraft wears special markings on the forward fuselage

applied in 2014 to celebrate the centenary of the Turkish Naval Aviation Command. DzKK (Türk Deniz Kuvvetleri)

40 // JUNE 2018 #363 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com

European MPAs Part 5

Fleet

Survey