Imperial Russian Air Service

Imperial Russian Air Service

The Imperial Russian Air Force (Императорскiй военно-воздушный флотъ, Emperor's Military Air Fleet) existed in the Russian Empire between 1910 and 1917.

The origins of Russian aviation go back to theoretical projects of the 1880s by pioneer Russian scientists such as Nikolai Kibalchich and Alexander Mozhaysky. During the 1890s aviation innovation was further advanced by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.

In 1904 Nikolai Zhukovsky established the world's first Aerodynamic Institute in Kachino near Moscow.

In 1910 the Imperial Russian Army purchased a number of French planes and began training the first military pilots. The history of military aircraft in Imperial Russia is closely associated with the name of Igor Sikorsky .

In 1913 Sikorsky built the first four-engine biplane, the Russky Vityaz, and his famous bomber aircraft, the Ilya Muromets.

In the same year Dmitry Grigorovich built a number of “flying boats” for the Imperial Russian Navy.

In 1914 Russian aviators conducted the first ever flights in the Arctic looking for the lost expedition of polar explorer Georgy Sedov.

At the beginning of World War I, Russia had an air force second only to France, although a significant part of the Imperial Russian Air Force used outdated French aircraft. Initially, Russians used aviation only for reconnaissance and coordination of artillery fire, but in December 1914 a squadron of Ilya Muromets bombers was formed and used against the German and Austro-Hungarian armies.

Among Russian pilots were the legendary Pyotr Nesterov, who performed the first aerial ramming plane attack in the history of aviation, and the most successful Russian flying ace and fighter pilot Alexander Kazakov, who shot down 32 enemy planes. In 1915 the Imperial Russian Air Force, formerly part of the Engineer Corps, became a separate branch of the army directly under command of the Stavka (commander-in-chief's HQ).

However, the war was not going well for Russia and following significant setbacks on the Eastern front, and the economic collapse in the rear, military aircraft production fell far behind Russia's rival Germany.

In late 1916 Sikorsky built a unique four-engine bomber-biplane called Alexander Nevsky, but it was never put to serial production due to the events preceding and following the October Revolution, and Sikorsky’s emigration to the United States of America in 1919.

The Imperial Russian Air Force aircraft hangars for seaplanes in Reval (Tallinn) harbor were some of the first reinforced concrete structures in the world.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Imperial Russian Air Force was succeeded by the Workers' and Peasants' Air Fleet, with the status of a Main Directorate, on May 24, 1918.