Canadair CL-415 CL-415GR

The CL-415GR is the version of Canadair's amphibian developed specifically for Greece, hence the GR suffix. The three sources that describe it agree on the essentials: it is an improved version for the Hellenic Air Force, capable of operating at higher weights than the basic CL-415. The French source adds that the higher take-off mass translates into increased carrying capacity, which in a water bomber means more water or more fuel per sortie. Six examples of this version were built.

Greece is, together with Canada, France and Italy, one of the main customers of the CL-415, and the country where the family of Canadian amphibians has acquired an almost institutional character: Greek summers, with fires affecting Attica, the islands and the Peloponnese, made the amphibious water bomber a central tool of civil protection. The Hellenic Air Force operates the aircraft with military crews, unlike the civilian or contracted operators of other European countries.

According to the French source's table of users, Greece received ten CL-415s, of which seven remained in service: six of the CL-415GR version and one of the CL-415MP maritime patrol version, with three aircraft lost. The Italian source, on the other hand, records in March 2021 a single CL-415GR delivered and in service, deployed with 112 Combat Wing, 383 Squadron "Proteas", at Elefsis air base near Athens. The discrepancy between the two figures, six GRs in the French table against one in the Italian, could not be resolved with the material available; the figure of six built is the one shared by the English, French and Spanish sources.

The Greek record of the CL-415 includes three documented losses, with the sources not specifying the version in two of them. In April 2006 the aircraft with serial number 2039 became immobilised at sea after a failure, capsized and sank while being towed; it was refloated, declared beyond repair and stored at Elefsis air base. On 23 July 2007 serial number 2055 crashed while fighting a fire on the island of Euboea, killing the pilot and co-pilot; the English-language source identifies it as a CL-415MP. On 5 May 2014, during a training exercise, serial number 2050 overturned and sank while attempting to alight in bad weather near Michaniona, about 20 km south-west of Thessaloniki; the pilot and co-pilot were injured, and the aircraft, refloated and declared beyond repair, was stored at Thessaloniki-Makedonia airport.

The Hellenic Air Force is also one of the launch customers of the CL-415's successor. Within the European purchase intention for 22 aircraft announced in March 2022, twelve funded by the European Union through the rescEU mechanism at two per country and ten funded directly by the states, five of them for Greece, the country signed its firm order in 2024: according to the Italian source, seven DHC-515 Firefighters ordered on 21 March 2024, and according to the English source, a $530-million deal announced on 25 March 2024 by prime ministers Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Justin Trudeau to help deal with the country's severe wildfire seasons. Until those aircraft arrive, with deliveries expected from 2028, the six CL-415GRs will remain the spearhead of the Greek amphibious fleet.