Emmanouil Argyropoulos Makes History: First Flight in Greece (1912)

On this day, February 8, 1912- The first flight is performed over Greece

Emmanouil Argyropoulos became the first Greek pilot to perform a flight in Greece. After taking off from the Rouf district of Athens, he performed a 16-minute-long flight around the city, including an overflight of the Acropolis.

An hour later, he carried out a second flight, this time with Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos as his passenger. Venizelos was enthusiastic about the concept of aerial warfare and stated that Greece should immediately take advantage of this newly invented weapon.

Athens's main airport is now named after “Eleftherios Venizelos.”

Argyropoulos, originally a civil engineer, abandoned his profession and went to Paris in order to study aeronautics. At the end of January 1912, he acquired his pilot license and returned to Greece together with a privately owned Nieuport IV.G 50-hp aircraft.