Andravida Air Base Hosts PhanCon 2023

Phantastic phootage from Phantom Conference 2023.

After the successful first edition in 2022, on July 10 and 11, Andravida Air Base, in the Northwest Peloponnese, Greece, hosted once again the annual European Phantom Conference (PhanCon 2023). In fact, along with Air Tactics Center and the facilities used by Greek and allied nations during the famous Iniochos exercise series, the base is the home of the 117 Combat Wing and its 338 Squadron, flying with F-4E AUP Phantom II jets.

The Phantom Conference was an event sponsored by the F-4 Phantom II Society once a year for a worldwide gathering of F-4 enthusiasts. As you can read in the Society’s website: “Aviators, maintenance personnel, support folks, hobbyists, photographers, modelers, watchers, all joined to share experiences, update friendships, and view any F-4s on site. Some brought their extensive photo collections to share. We also attracted vendors specializing in F-4 memorabilia and merchandise. We worked in visits to various flying organizations on the base, trips to the flightline and near to the runway for photo opportunities and a trip to a local aviation museum if available. The last Phantom Conference occurred in 2016 just prior to the QF-4 retirement from service in the United States Air Force.”

“The Society continues to meet with a scaled down version of the Phantom Conference called The F-4 Phantom II Society Reunion. This is a less formal manner to get together and will base in a city with a museum or ahead of a local airshow.”

With the Phantom still in service with the Hellenic Air Force, the international get-together of Phantom crews and enthusiasts moved to Europe in July 2022.

This year, our friend (and Phantom lover) Misael Ocasio Hernandez traveled to Andravida for PhanCon 2023 and, as done during his trip to South Korea, he’s shot some really amazing footage of the Hellenic F-4E aircraft during day and night operations. Enjoy!

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About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.