Some Notes on Russia's Imperial Air Service at War

By Raul Colon

The Imperial Air Service, 1912–1917

When the Great War started on August 1914, Germany and Russia shared a vast frontier that stretched from the midway between Danzig and Riga, near the Baltic coast, running west of Warsaw, south through Galicia, finally ending on the mouth of the Danube on the Black Sea. The first phase of the air action took place in two main sectors of the border: the northern area and Galicia. Initially, German air assets in the east were limited, but the the Russian units were utterly ineffective, contributing to the Tannenberg disaster.  Over time this would change. The only  Russian-designed air platform to see action during the first year of the war was the massive Sikorsky four-engine bomber. Seventy-three of the Ilya Muromets G-9 heavy bombers were constructed from 1914 until 1917.

Russia's Most Famous Aircraft of WWI: the Ilya Muromets

The war between the Central Powers  and Tsarist Russia lasted three hard-fought years. It ended abruptly on October 1917 when the Bolsheviks seized power in Moscow. The Imperial Air Service effectively died at that point. It  was subsequently reorganized and divided between the Red and White forces for the coming civil war.

Notable Members of the Imperial Air Service

The fact the many Russian pilots became World War I aces, despite flying obsolete platforms and applying dreadful tactics, was a tribute to their skill and training. In general, the bulk of the Russian Air Service assets, although lagging almost a year behind in technology, still were good enough to hang in with the experienced German and Austrian pilots. The weakness was the command structure. The officer corps was filled with tsarist-created nobility. A sense of entitlement permeated its core. Because of it, when disasters in the front mounted, they were ill equipped to handle the challenge.  

Major Kazakov, 1917

One particular airman resoundingly distinguished himself on the Eastern Front. His name was Alexander Kazakov (1889–1919). Kazakov was born in the Kherson province. After attending the prestigious Yelizavetgrad Cavalry School in 1908, Kazakov joined the Gatchina military aviation school, completing his training by 1914. In 1915, Kazakov was sent to the Ukraine with the purpose of shoring up air operations in the region. It was there that his reputation as a top ace was formed. Flying Morane-Saulnier, SPAD-SA2, Nieuport 11 and Nieuport 17 planes, the young airman is credited with shooting down 17 Central Powers aircraft, top among Russian pilots at the time. There was a rumor that the number is actually 32, but because the Russian counted only aircraft which crashed on its territory, 17 is the figure recorded in the history books. 

In 1917, he was assigned command of the newly formed No. 1 Fighter Group, but the unit was disbanded when the Bolsheviks took control in October. Later, Kazakov made his way north to Archangelsk to join in with the British, who landed there in 1918. He perished on 1 August 1919, while practicing aerobatics for the Russian White Army. Overall, he was awarded 18 medals, including the British Distinguished Service Order and the French Legion d'Honneur, were awarded to this aviation pioneer.

Alexander de Seversky Before the War

Another trailblazing Russian pilot was Alexander de Seversky (1894–1974). As with fellow inventor Igor Sikorsky, Seversky's path would ultimately lead him to America, but not before he made an invaluable contribution to the Russian war effort. Stationed in the Gulf of Riga, Seversky, a naval aviator with the rudimentary Russian Naval Air Service, his first combat sortie was a solo attack against a German destroyer. While diving for his bomb run, he was shot down by anti-aircraft fire only seconds before he was set to drop his bomb. As the plane crashed, the bomb exploded on contact with the sea, killing his spotter and blowing off his right leg. After healing, he returned to active duty and was assigned the mission of coordinating all fighter aviation units in the Baltic sector. Seversky is cited with 13 kills, but, as with many of the records of the era, this fact is disputed. He was in America when the revolution started, shortly after which he applied for full U.S. citizenship. In the spring of 1922, he founded the Seversky Aero Corporation and became a noted air power advocate.

Lt. Commander Viktor Utgoff (1889–1930)

It was the collapse of discipline all along the front in the aftermath of the revolution, particularly in Ukraine, that inspired a counter political and military activities. Despite explicit order from the new Soviet regime, many Russian air force personnel continued to resist the Germans. One of them, Lieutenant Commander Viktor Utgoff (1889–1930), of the Black Sea Fleet who, flying his Grigorovich M-9 seaplane out of the seaplane tender Imperator Nikolai Pervyi, attacked a German U-boat. After the war, Utgov joined the large cradle of Russian pilots emigrating to the United States, where he became a naval test pilot. His son would become a notable authority on defense matters and serve on the National Security Council in the Carter adminstration.

Sources: (An earlier version of this article appeared at Aviationearth.com.)

Way of a Fighter, Claire Chennault, Putnam Books 1949

The First World War, Hew Strachan, Penguin Books 2003

The Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft, Robert Jackson, Paragon Publishing Books 2006