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Imperial Russian Air Service

  • 10 min read
  • 8 chapters

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Through World War I and Russian Revolution

LabRussian Revolution

With the onset of the Russian Civil War, some former IRAS pilots joined Alexander Kolchak on the White Russian side, but the White movement never created an official air force. Most of what remained of the former Imperial Russian Air Service was reformed into the subsequent Soviet Air Forces.

History

Background

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 1902–1903 during military maneuvers in the Kiev Military District, the Imperial Russian Army used several aerostats for reconnaissance and coordination of artillery fire. The Aeronautical company (Отдельная воздухоплавательная рота, Otdel'naya vozdukhoplavatel'naya rota) was under the command of Colonel A.M. Kovanko.

In 1904 Nikolai Zhukovsky established the world's first Aerodynamic Institute (Russian: Аэродинамический институт, romanized: Aerodinamicheskiy institut) in Kuchino near Moscow. One aeronautical battalion (учебный Восточно-Сибирский воздухоплавательный батальон) with 4 aerostats took part in the Russo-Japanese War.

In 1908, the Russian Aeroclub (Russian: Всероссийский Аэроклуб, romanized: Vserossiyskiy Aeroklub, lit. 'All-Russian Aeroclub') was established.

In 1910, the Imperial Russian Army sent several officers to France for training as pilots. Later in the same year the Imperial Russian Army purchased a number of French and British aeroplanes and began training its first military pilots.

  • the first aviation school was opened in the summer of 1910 in Gatchina
  • the second aviation school was opened in the autumn of 1910 in Sevastopol (in 1912 this school was moved to Kacha)

Also in 1910, one biplane was built in Saint Petersburg which was intended to be used by the Army as a reconnaissance aircraft, but the aircraft lost in a competition against the French Farman III in 1911, and never entered service

On 12 August 1912 the Imperial Russian Air Service, formerly part of the Engineer Corps, became a separate branch of the army.

During the First Balkan War there was a Russian air unit in the Bulgarian Army which was composed of 10 civil volunteers (4 pilots and 6 technicians) and commanded by S. Schetinin

In 1913 Igor Sikorsky built the first four-engine biplane, the Russky Vityaz, and his famous bomber aircraft, the Ilya Muromets. The same year Dmitry Grigorovich built several "M-type" flying boats for the Imperial Russian Navy.

In 1914 Polish aviator Jan Nagórski conducted the first ever flights in the Arctic looking for the lost expedition of polar explorer Georgy Sedov.

World War I

At the beginning of World War I, Russia's air service had the largest air fleet in the Entente, followed by France (263 aeroplanes against 156 respectively and 14 airships).

After the war began, aviators were rearmed with 7.63mm Mauser C96, because German semi-automatic pistols were more effective weapons than standard 7.62mm Nagant revolvers. At least a few aviators were armed with carbines.

Initially, Russia used aircraft only for reconnaissance and coordination of artillery fire. Later, several aeroplanes were armed with steel flechettes to attack ground targets (columns of enemy infantry and cavalry, campsites, etc.). Later, aeroplanes were armed with air-dropped bombs.

On 8 September 1914, the Russian pilot Pyotr Nesterov performed the first aerial ramming aircraft attack in the history of aviation Later, Lt. Vyacheslav Tkachov became the very first Russian pilot who shot down an enemy aircraft with a handgun. He attacked a German "Albatros" and shot the enemy pilot.

In December 1914 a squadron of 10 Ilya Muromets bombers was formed and used against the German and Austro-Hungarian armies.

17 January 1915 – The Ministry of War of the Russian Empire issued an order to arm aeroplanes with 7.62mm Madsen light machine guns and 7.71mm Lewis light machine guns

In March 1915 naval aviation was established. The Imperial Russian Navy received two vessels and six seaplanes (one armed steamship "Император Николай I" which was converted into a seaplane carrier for five M-5 seaplanes and one cruiser "Алмаз" which was rebuilt with a place for one seaplane). The naval aviation section was not merged into the IRAS and became a part of Black Sea Fleet

On 31 March 1915 the Russian pilot Alexander Kazakov successfully performed the second ramming attack, using a Morane-Saulnier G as his piloted projectile.

Summer 1915 – petrol bombs (glass bottles containing a flammable mixture of gasoline and mazut) were used by pilots to attack ground targets

In 1915 the Imperial Russian Air Service became a separate branch of the army directly under the command of the Stavka (commander-in-chief's HQ).

In 1916 the size and force of naval aviation was increased, the Black Sea Fleet had two seaplane carriers ("Император Николай I" and "Император Александр I") and fourteen M-9 seaplanes

During World War I, 269 Russian aviators were awarded the St. George military decorations (St George Sword, Order of St. George or Cross of St. George), 5 aviators were awarded the Chevalier's National Order of the Legion of Honour, 2 aviators were awarded the Military Cross, 2 aviators were awarded the Order of the White Eagle and many others were awarded medals. 26 aviators became flying aces of Russian Empire. The most successful Russian flying ace and fighter pilot was Alexander Kazakov, who shot down 20 enemy aeroplanes.

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.

After the February Revolution of 1917 the Imperial Russian Air Service was reformed. Following the October Revolution of 1917, the Russian Air Service was dissolved.

  • more than 1300 aeroplanes became a basis of Workers' and Peasants' Air Fleet. More than two-thirds of these aeroplanes were foreign-made. More than 50% of all aeroplanes were "Nieuports", more than 15% of all aeroplanes were "Farmans" and about 9% of all aeroplanes were "Voisins". Only 300–350 of these aeroplanes were used during Russian Civil War because of the lack of spare parts and maintenance problems.
  • Kolchak's white army received 65 aeroplanes and about 70 pilots.
  • Also, former members of Imperial Russian Air Service joined Denikin's white army.
  • After the start of the North Russia Intervention several former pilots of Imperial Russian Air Service joined the white forces in North Russia.

219 pilots who fought in Red Army during Russian Civil War were awarded Order of the Red Banner (16 of them were awarded twice). Almost all of them were former pilots of IRAS.

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