European MPAs Part 5
Fleet Survey
Turkey
As 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 tr…
