The Naval Air Service () was the air arm of the Hellenic Navy from 1915 to 1930. The first aviation units in the Greek Armed Forces were formed in June 1912. In the subsequent Balkan Wars, the Hellenic Navy was the first in military history to use aircraft to track down and bomb the enemy fleet (1913). The Naval Air Service was officially established during the First World War and participated with the Allies in several missions over the Aegean. After participation in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) a long period of peace followed during which the Naval Air Service was reorganized and upgraded, especially with the establishment of the State Aircraft Factory, which manufactured various types of aircraft. In 1930 the Naval Air Service was merged with the Hellenic Army Aviation and formed the third branch in the Greek Armed Forces, the Hellenic Air Force. The present-day Hellenic Navy retains an aerial component in the form of the Navy Aviation Command. History Preparations and Balkan Wars (1912–1913) Aviation had been introduced to Greece in February 1912, when Emmanouil Argyropoulos performed a flight, with his privately owned Nieuport IV.G aircraft, around Athens. An hour later a second flight was carried on with the Prime Minister of Greece, Eleftherios Venizelos as passenger. Venizelos, impressed by the potential of air warfare, suggested that Greece should take advance of this new weapon. The following months a French military mission took up the development of Greek aviation by creating a fleet of four Maurice Farman MF.7 airplanes. In June 1912, aviator Dimitrios Kamperos modified one of the Farmans into a hydroplane, giving it the name of the mythical hero Daedalus. When the Balkan Wars broke out in October 1912, these airplanes performed a number of reconnaissance and bombing missions; the most notable was a sortie against the Ottoman fleet anchorage in the Dardanelles, where First Lieutenant Michael Moutoussis and Ensign Aristeidis Moraitinis spotted the Ottoman fleet and dropped four bombs. This mission is regarded as the first naval-air operation in military history and was widely commented upon in the press, both Greek and international. Meanwhile, the Hellenic Navy, in the process of setting up its air arm, bought a fleet of Sopwith Gunbus seaplanes (also known as Greek Seaplanes). World War I At the beginning of 1914 credits were voted for the creation of a naval aerodrome in Eleusina, Attica. Meanwhile, despite limited funds Aristeidis