In 1911, the Greek Government appointed French specialists to form the Hellenic Aviation Service. Six Greek officers were sent to France for training, while four 'Farman' type aircraft were ordered. All of the six graduated from the Farman school in Étampes near Paris, but only four served subsequently in aviation. The first military flight was made on May 13,1912 by Lieutenant Dimitrios Kamberos and in June he flew 'Daedalus', another Farman aircraft that that had been converted to a seaplane, setting a new world average speed record of 68mph and with it the foundations of Greek Naval Aviation. During September of the same year, the Greek Army also fielded its first squadron - the 'Aviators Company'. On October 5, 1912, Kamberos flew the first Greek combat mission, a recce flight over Thessaly on the first day of the Balkan Wars, and during the same day a similar mission was flown by German mercenaries in Ottoman service in the Thrace front against the Bulgarians. The Greek and the Ottoman missions flown during the same day were the first military aviation combat missions in a conventional war. In 1930, the Greek Aviation Ministry was founded, establishing the Air Force as the third branch of the Armed Forces, and eventually the Hellenic Army Air Service and Hellenic Naval Air Service were amalgamated to form the Hellenic Air Force.
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