361 Air Training Squadron "Mystras"

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361 Μοίρα Εκπαίδευσης Αέρος


The squadron was formed in September 1963 at the 112 Combat Wing (112 CW) with T-37 B/Cs as the 360 Jet Training Squadron (JTS). In 1971 it was relocated to Kalamata airport and in 1974 was renamed to 361 Basic Training Squadron. In summer 2000 the T-37 B/C airplanes were replaced by the T-6A TEXAN. Since March 2006 the squadron is named 361 Air Training Squadron.

MYSTRAS
Mystras (also Mistra, Mystra and Mistras Greek: Μυστράς, Μυζηθράς Mizithras or Myzithras in the chronicle of Morea) was a fortified town in Morea (the Peloponnesus), on Mt. Taygetos, near ancient Sparta. It lies approximately eight kilometres west of the modern town of Sparti. In 1249, Mystras became the seat of the Latin Principality of Achaea, established in 1205 after the conquest of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, and Prince William II Villehardouin, a grand-nephew of the Fourth Crusade historian Geoffrey of Villehardouin, built a palace there. Mystras was also the last centre of Byzantine scholarship; the Neoplatonist philosopher George Gemistos Plethon lived there until his death in 1452. He and other scholars based in Mystras influenced the Italian Renaissance, especially after he accompanied the emperor John VIII Palaeologus to Florence in 1439.

The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, was despot at Mystras before he came to the throne. Demetrius Palaeologus the last despot of Morea, surrendered the city to the Ottoman emperor Mehmed II in 1460. The Venetians occupied it from 1687 to 1715, but otherwise the Ottomans held it until 1821 and the beginning of the Greek War of Independence. It was abandoned by King Otto for the newly rebuilt Sparta.
In 1989 the ruins, including the fortress, palace, churches, and monasteries, were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.