Nieuport 11 & 16, part four. The 'Bébé' in service with Russia and the USSR.

 

During World War I, the Imperial Russian Air Service (IRAS) found that the Nieuport 10 (a versatile sesquiplane, forerunner of the Nieuport 11 which could fill a wide variety of roles, among them, the fighter one) was barely effective as a fighter and saw the Nieuport 11 as an important improvement. Initially, some few French machines were imported but a license production contract was granted soon to Dux factory, in Moscow. 
An early order of 200 Nieuport 11s was soon placed with Dux in 1916. Dux-built machines differed from the original French machines. For instance, Russian-built machines were made out of pine, instead of spruce and flax was employed for covering in lieu of silk, due to the scarcity of materials in Tsarist Russia. Those changes in construction materials made the Dux-Nieuport 11s to be 30 kg heavier than its French counterparts and their quality overall was very poor. Quoting a commander of the 8th Fighter Unit, the Dux Nieuports "... could not be assembled because the parts did not fit and... the bolts fixing the struts with the spars broke into pieces." The 'Bébé' was later built under license by Mosca-Bystritsky (Moscow), Anatra (Odessa) and Shchetinin (St. Petersburg), making a total of just seventy machines being manufactured in 1916.
The initial imported Nieuport 11s were unarmed, so many pilots of the front-line squadrons had to supply their own weapons, like pistols and rifles. Luckily for them, V.V. Jordan designed a machine gun mount that allowed a weapon to be carried, although it had to be angled in order to fire over the propeller, the mount enable it rotate vertically. 
The Nieuport 16, on the other hand, was mainly imported to Russia with some few examples being built by Dux. The purchased Nieuport 16s were powered by the 110 hp. Le Rhône 9J engine with one Nieuport 16 being powered by a de-rated 80 hp Le Rhône, which was employed as a trainer.

Anyway, both Nieuport 11 and Nieuport 16s were supplied to frontline squadrons and by 1st March 1917 there were ten serving in the northern front, five serving in the western front, sixteen in the south-western front, five in the Romanian front and one in the Caucasus front, making a total of 37 machines.
One month later, there were a total of 70 Nieuport 11s in active service and by June 1917 there were twelve at the northern front, four at the western front, twenty-five at the southwestern/Romanian fronts and seven at the Caucasus front.
The Nieuport 11 proved to be a huge improvement, specially when compared to the Nieuport 10, however, it was soon replaced by the Nieuport 17, when it became available. 
The Nieuport 11 was employed also during the subsequent Russian Civil War, by both Bolsheviks and Whites, mainly as trainers. In fact, when the Civil War was almost over, in December 1921, there were a total of 18 Nieuport 11 in service as trainers serving with the 2nd Military School of Pilots and the 1st Higher School of Military Pilots in June 1923, with the last one being written off charge in 1924.

Sources:
1st Flying Machines Press - French Aircraft of the First World War
2nd https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nieuport_11
3rd https://ava.org.ru/ww1.html (translated)