The State Aircraft Factory of Greece, usually known through the acronym KEA, originally founded as EAF, is the oldest and most historic Greek aircraft manufacturer.
History
The decision to establish an aircraft manufacturing company was taken in 1917, but the wars that followed delayed its foundation until 1925. It was based in Phaliron near Piraeus and technology and initial management were provided by BritishBlackburn Aircraft Limited, a company selected as a partner by the Greek military. The first type produced by the factory was the T3 Velos, designed by the British company. , the first plane produced by KEA In 1927 an all-Greek EAF design was introduced, the Chelidon multi-purpose military aircraft. It used a Salmson 120 hp engine and had a maximum speed of 150 km/h. However, only one was built for the Greek Navy, as it was considered inferior to alternative types. Later, the factory produced a series of aircraft types under license, including numbers of Avro 504 aircraft, a version of the Armstrong Whitworth Atlas and the Avro 621 Tutor. At least 61 Tutors were produced, with a rate of seven per month in early 1940, as part of Greece's preparations after the outbreak of World War II. The company had been fully nationalized since January 1938, when the name KEA was officially used. Preparations for the production of the PZL P.24, the main fighter used by the Greek Air Force at the time, as well as the Henschel Hs 126K-6 light bomber were never completed due to the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War in October 1940. Thus, the only KEA-produced type that saw action in World War II was the 621 Tutor. Production also covered other areas, including bombs, and specialized parts and tools. During Greece's occupation by the Axis powers the KEA facilities were used by the German Luftwaffe for technical support, while airport infrastructure, where some of its facilities were located, became targets of Allied bombing. After the wa, KEA divisions produced a number of gliders but it eventually focused on maintenance work for the Greek Air Force with only limited construction activity - which went to the Hellenic Aerospace Industry when the latter was founded. Nonetheless, KEA has produced since the 1990s a number of Pegasus UAVs, developed by HAI and a Greek StateResearch Institute. The historic company survives until today and is under direct Greek military command.
