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)

Morane-Saulnier P

 

Thanks to the success of the Morane-Saulnier Type L and Type LA Morane-Saulnier sought to design an improved parasol in 1916. By September 1915 the Nieuport 11 and 11 had replaced the Types L and LA in the frontlines of the Aéronautique Militaire in the fighter role. Although parasols were still useful in the reconnaissance role, the common feel was that with the advent of the Fokker E.III in 1915, a more powerful version of the Type L was needed.

The new design was given the denomination of "P" by Morane-Saulnier, that single letter standing for "parasol". It was a complete redesign of the Type LA with an important number of changes. It was powered by a Le-Rhône 9Jb engine which yielded 110 hp of power. Its fuselage was completely faired with a circular cross-section which contributed to the streamlining of the airplane and its higher speed. The tail unit was similar to that of the Type LA. Armament varied and some machine were field-modified with a 0.303 in Vickers machine gun on top of the wing shooting outside propeller's arc plus a second machine gun on a mounting behind observer's cockpit. The Type P was tested on 31st March 1916 and was accepted for service with the Aéronautique Militaire under the designation of MoS.21. A total of 565 Type Ps were manufactured.

The Type P was used to complement many French reconnaissance aircraft, but it didn't replace the Caudron G.4, Farman M.F.11 and Farman F.40, which were French's main recon aircraft at the time. Many of the French recon and bombing squadrons were assigned some Type Ps which were used for various kinds of missions like short-range reconnaissance, light bombing and spy-dropping behind enemy lines. 

A total of two Escadrilles (Squadrons) were fully equipped with the Type P. The first of which was the MS. 140 created in September 1917 with a total of 13 Type Ps. This squadron was part of the 4e Armée (4th Army) as an Army Co-Operation Unit. The second one was MS.215 which was formed in September too and was assigned to the 6e Armée (6th Army) with also 13 Type Ps in strength. They also served with some other squadrons. However, they didn't stay in active service for long time as they were obsolete by mid-1916. In spite of the large number of built machines, only 118 were in service by August 1917. These were 61 at the frontlines, 52 at the RGA (Réserve Générale de l'Aviation - General Aviation Reserve), three under reparation and two probably serving as a source of spare parts. Both MS.140 and MS.215 were re-equipped with SPAD 16 by early 1918.

Apparently, the Type P was withdrawn from the frontlines due to a mixture of structural failure, pilot error or improper handling of the aircraft by ground crews as it seems that the type required some extra mechanic works. During fall of 1917 the Type P was withdrawn from active service and on 9th August 1917 a memo was issued by the Aéronautique Militaire's HQ to replace all Type Ps with the MoS.26, which was an improved version with a strengthened fuselage a circular engine cowling and the addition of an enlarged spinner to improve aeronautics. It's unknown how may MoS.26 were built.

A fighter version was also built by fairing over the observer's position and with a synchronized Vickers 0.303 in machine gun placed on the nose. Two prototypes were tested and performance was satisfactory. However, it was found that the parasol obstructed pilot's vision. A second prototype was built with a lower wing and the pilot's position aft of the wing which was equipped with an adjustable seat which allowed him to see over the wing at will. This second prototype was armed with two synchronized Vickers 0.303 in placed on the nose and had bigger fuel capacity. This new fighter's performance was only slightly better than the Type P and was not selected for use.

In addition, the Type P was exported to various countries:

• Brazil: In 1919 Brazil acquired a single Type P which was modified to not be able to fly. This version was called "Rouleur" or "Penguin" by the Frenchs and in Brazil, it was used to train pilots how to taxi. It received the serial 1325 and was written off shortly later, in 1920. As we couldn't find a pic of the Brazilian Type P, the drawing should be considered as speculative.
• Japan: A single Rouleur or Penguin was obtained by Japan in 1919 which was used to train pilots how to taxi. Just its Brazilian counterpart, we couldn't find any pic, so the drawing should be considered as speculative.
• Russian Empire: The Imperial Russian Air Service bought an unknown number of Type P from France. Most of these machines were powered by a 110 hp Le-Rhône engine, although some aircraft were uprated with 120 hp Le-Rhône ones. The Type P was clearly better than the Type L or the LA, but Russian pilots found the Type P harder to fly. Some few machines seem to have been locally built in Russia, but due to unpopularity among the pilots it was never used in large numbers.
• United Kingdom: The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) obtained a single Type P in 1916, which, with the serial number MS.746, was tested by the No.2 Aircraft Depot at Candas, in the Somme Department in France. Based on a favorable report of the Type P an order for three additional machines was placed, with some of them being armed with a machine gun and a fairing for a camera and wireless, with a machine gun for the observer in every airplane. 
  Due to a shortage in the Le-Rhône engine, deliveries were delayed. However, once that issue was solved, additional 20 machines were ordered and by September 1916 forty-four additional airplanes were ordered too. Some of those machines were equipped with the fairing for the camera and the observer's gun, but the synchronized forward-firing machine gun was not present in every machine. Instead a Lewis was mounted on top of the wing, firing outside propeller's arc. It's known that some Type Ps served with No.3 and No.1 Squadrons.
  The Le-Rhône engine was still short on supply, and some were finished with an 80 hp Le-Rhône. Of the 36 Type Ps that served with the RFC, nine did so with the No.3 Squadron. By January 1917 every Type P had been relegated to training units. 
  A total of 106 Type Ps were ordered, both of the MoS.21 and MoS.26 variants. The No.3 Squadron used some few MoS.26. By October 1917 the MoS.26 were sent to No.2 Aircraft Depot and those remaining to were relegated to Pilot School No.1 AD at St. Omer, Pas-de-Calais, in France and No.1 Reserve Training Squadron at Gosport, Hampshire, United Kingdom.

Sources:

1. Flying Machines Press - French Aircraft of the First World War

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_P

Morane-Saulnier H, part two

 

The Morane-Saulnier H was an early aircraft flown for the first time in France during the months prior to the outbreak of the World War I. It was a single-seat derivative of the Morane-Saulnier Type G with a slightly revised wing. It was used by some countries, among them the following ones:

• Portugal: The Portuguese Serviço Aeronáutico Militar (Army Military Service) acquired a single Type H in October 1916. It was a de-rated Anzani-powered machine which could only yield up to 45 hp of power. It had the serial number of MS.721 and was nicknamed as "Charge Maxima" (Maximum Charge). It was assigned to the Flying School at Vila Nova da Rainha, close to Lisbon and was used as a trainer.
• Russia: The Russian Empire's Flying Corps had some Morane-Saulnier H in service. It's hard to know an exact number as, unlike the Type G, the type wasn't manufactured locally and every Type H was imported. It's also very likely that many Type Gs were converted into single seaters, making them Type H. Anyway, some machines survived both World War I and Russian Civil War and at least one of them ended up serving with  one of the Bolsheviks' Flying Schools in Moscow in the late 1910s.
• Switzerland: At least two Type Hs served with the Swiss Fliegertruppe (Swiss Army Aviation) as trainers during World War I years.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_H

2. Flying Machines Press - French Aircraft of the First World War

3. Flying Machines Press - The Imperial Russian Air Service. Famous Pilots and Aircraft of World War I

Morane-Saulnier G. Russian users

 

The Morane-Saulnier G (AKA Type G) was a French two-seat sport and racing monoplane produced in France just before World War I. It was so successful that in 1914 Russian manufacturer Dux bought a production license to manufacture them at their Moscow factory to be employed by the Imperial Russian Air Service (IRAS).

The IRAS used their Type Gs usually as single-seaters because the accommodation for the observer (which was just a cushion placed on the fuel tank) and its location at mid-wing were considered inadequate. 

The Russian-built Type Gs were made in two versions. One had a wing with a 9.3 m span and the other had 10.2 span but otherwise, both wings were identical and were hold by the same chord arrangement, with the only difference that the smaller wing was hold by two pairs of bracing wires, while the larger one was hold by three.

Most of them were powered by the Le Rhône engine rated at 80 hp. The Russians liked the Type G as it could be transported in pieces and be assembled in just 11 minutes by two skilled mechanics.

During the Great War, the Type Gs were initially used for unarmed reconnaissance, although they were also used to ram down enemy planes. The Type Gs that were in service with the 11th Air Corps (11 KAO) were unarmed except for the pistols and rifles the pilots could carry with them. The 11th KAO's commander, P.N. Nesterov, tried, in many times, to use his aircraft to crash German aircraft into the ground. For that purpose, he attached a blade to the rear of his fuselage in order to get so close to German planes to cut their wings off. He also tried to break enemy propellers by using a grapple hung from his plane. Eventually, he devised a procedure for ramming enemy planes due to his inability to find machine guns suitable for aircraft combat. During one of those rams, his Type G and the Austro-Hungarian reconnaissance aircraft he had rammed, crashed killing both crews. Other Russian aviators were, however, more successful in their ramming attacks, like Aleksander Kozakov who used an anchor hung from the bottom of his plane to destroy enemy planes. The Type G remained in front-line service until mid-1915 when they were replaced by Type Ls and Type LA parasols. 

After their withdrawal from frontline service, they were assigned to training units. These were refitted with nose-wheels to prevent the student pilots from nosing over, while others were used only for taxying. Most of them were fitted with de-rated engines such as the 35 hp Anzanis. The trainer sub-variant saw three types of undercarriages: The Type G originally produced in France and fitted with the Kachinsky undercarriage, the Slyusarenko trainer and the Type G modified by Lieutenant Fride. 

There was also another Russian sub-variant of the Type G; the Type WR was built for the Imperial Russian Navy and had cristal panels on the fuselage sides, ahead of the wing, in order to improve crew's vision. The drawing we made on this type is based on text descriptions only and it should be considered as purely speculative.

In 1916 a single Dux-built Type G was fitted with a 100 hp Gnome-Monosoupape engine and a smaller wing. It achieved better performance rates than the standard Type G and set a Russian altitude record of 5.200 m (170.604 ft).

It's estimated that around 20 Type Gs survived both Great War, Russian Revolutions and Civil War and remained in use until as late as 1923 in various Soviet aerial military schools such as the Tashkent Military School, 2nd Higher School of Military Pilots and the 1st and 2nd Military School of Pilots.

Sources:

1. Flying Machines Press - French Aircraft of the First World War

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_G

Morane-Saulnier V

The Morane-Saulnier V, AKA Morane-Saulnier M.S.22,  was a French fighter of the 1910s that was itself a variant of the Morane-Saulnier N, but powered by a 110hp Le Rhône engine instead of the original 80hp Le Rhône one. Thanks to its engine, it had an endurance of 3 hours.
As it was more developed, it required more work than the previous type N or the type I, which was developed in parallel to this one. In fact, it had bigger wingspan and had modified elevators with a bigger area. It had also bigger fuel tanks, which gave the fuselage a deeper front.
The first aircraft was presented on 16th May 1916 at No.1 Air Depot, near Guillaux, in France, although unarmed. Later, by 8th July, they were armed and with their engines fitted and were delivered to the Royal Flying Corps in that same month.
With the Royal Flying Corps, one of them served with the No.3 Squadron for a few days, but after that, only the No.60 Squadron was the only RFC unit to use the type, receiving at least 7 of the 12 delivered. Of those, three were written off as they crashed while landing and another one was destroyed in combat on 19th September 1916. It wasn't very popular among the pilots of the No.60 Squadron as the more powerful and heavier engine, made the aircraft harder to control . By early August, the squadron had to be withdrawn from the frontlines, in order to be fitted with new and better aircrafts. However, when the squadron received the Nieuport 16, some few Morane-Saulnier V, were still in active until they were definitely withdrawn from service on 11th October 1916.
This didn't end Morane-Saulnier N family, as the type V was the basis for the experimental type U version which eventually evolved into the type AC.
Some of them were also sold to the Imperial Russian Air Service in 1917, where they were kept into service until the revolutions of that same year when they were adquired by the Bolshevik Red Air Fleet and served, without known results, during the Russian Civil War.

Sources:
1. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_morane_saulnier_Type_V.html
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_V
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Morane-Saulnier I

The Morane-Saulnier I, AKA Morane-Saulnier MS.6, was a French fighter of the 1910s. It was basically a modified version of the Morane-Saulnier N.
Following the advice of Lord Trenchard, the Royal Flying Corps placed an order for a more powerful Morane-Saulnier N, so the firm Morane-Saulnier answered by fitting a 110hp Le-Rhône engine to a type N, creating that way the type I, even if externally it was identical to the type N, with the only difference that it was armed with a 0.303in Vickers Machine Gun.
Initially the Royal Flying Corp's order was for just one aircraft, but later, in March 1916 it was extended to thirteen.
However, just four aircrafts were delivered to the RFC in July 1916, having it flown in March of that year in RFC trials. No further production was ordered as the more advanced version, the Morane-Saulnier V proved to be better and more promising. However, the type I remained with the RFC, at the frontlines until October 1916 when they were replaced and sold to Russia, where they served with the Imperial Russian Air Service until the end of the war.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_I
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Morane Saulnier-N

The Morane-Saulnier N, was a French monoplane fighter airplane from the First World War. It was designed in and manufactured by Morane-Saulnier, it entered into service in April 1915 with the French Aéronautique Militaire, who named it Morane-Saulnier MS.5C1.
Even if it was a clean and streamlined aircraft, it wasn't easy to fly due to a mixture of stiff lateral control caused by using wing warping instead of ailerons, sensitive pitch and yaw controls caused by using an all-flying tail, and very high landing speed for the period. It was armed with a single unsynchronised forward-firing 7.92mm Hotchkiss machine gun which used the defector wedges, first used in the Morane-Saulnier L to fire through the propeller arc. It was powered by a single 80hp (60Kw) Le Rhône 9C air-cooled rotary engine.
A large metal "casserolle" spinner was designed to make the aircraft more streamlined, but it was found that it overheated the engine, so many pilots removed it. In fact, in 1915, most of them were removed so overheating problems dissappeared with little loss in performance.
Forty-nine aircrafts were manufactured but they were already obsolete by the end of 1915 in the Western Front as the aircraft development ran very fast back then.
A version with a modified tail was introduced in very small numbers, the type Nm.
It served with the French Aéronautique Militaire at the hands of mighty pilots like Roland Garros. It's service was highly successful as they had an aicraft that could face the German Pfalz E.I. It  also served with some squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps, where it earned the nickname of "The Bullet" and was also manned by pilots of the 19th Squadron of the Imperial Russian Air Force, operating in Ukraine, where at least three of them served with the Ukranian Galician Army, of the West Ukrainian People's Republic during the years of the Russian Revolution and Russian civil war.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_N
2. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_morane_saulnier_Type_N.html
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Morane Saulnier L - Russian users

The Morane-Saulnier L was also license built in Russia. In 1914 the Joint-Stock Company Dux Y.U. A. Meller (commonly known as Dux) based in Moscow, got the license and later, in 1915 the Aeronautical Joint-Stock Company VA Lebedev (commonly known as Lebedev) got the license to produce it. Later, after the Russian Civil War, Bolsheviks nationalized both companies and Dux was called Moscow Aircraft Factory Number 1 and Lebedev simply was dissolved. A total of approximate 400 Type L were manufactured by Dux and around 30 of them were manufactured by Lebedev.
Of those around 430 Russian built Type L, it's known that most of them served with the Imperial Russian Air Service during the eastern front of the World War I where they served mainly as scouts and improvised bombers specially in the period of 1915-1916. Later when the revolutions sparked in 1917, they served with many sides of the conflict as it saw service with the Siberian White Army in the vastly enormous Siberian-Ural region from 1918-1919, when that army was disbanded as the front collapsed.
The Workers and Peasants' Air Fleet (the name of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic's early air force) also used some of them with the curiosity that at least one of them was damaged in the tail and they got it replaced with another one. It was also up-armoured with two American built M1895 Colt-Browning machine guns, one at the front, synchronized with the propellers and a defensive one at the back in the place of the observer. Their fate is unknown, but they were most probably destroyed during the Russian Civil War or salvaged for spare parts.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_L
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Army
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Air_Forces
4. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Sopwith Pup - Foreign Users

Note: This post is just a re-arrangement of our first one, the Sopwith Pup in order to cope with the new national -and historical tags - As the drawings aren't new, we haven't announced it through twitter.

The users contained in this post are:

• Australia: The Sopwith Pup equipped the Australian No.5, No.6 and No.8 Training Squadrons and they also equipped the No.1 Flying training School RAAF in the post-war years.
• Belgium: It seems that the Belgian 5éme Escadrille de Chasse employed at least one Sopwith Pup during the World War I.
• Greece: During the First World War some Pups were used by the Hellenic Army Air Service.
• Netherlands: Apparently Netherlands used some airplanes that had crashed inside their borders during the First World War.
• Japan: The Imperial Japanese Air Force used the Pup, both with the army and the navy, where it's known that some of them served aboard the Yamashiro Battleship.
• Romania: Apparently some Pups served with Romania during the First World War.
• Russian Empire: It seems that some Pups were sold to the Imperial Russian air corps.
• Russian SFSR: When the revolution started, with the subsequent civil war, the Bolsheviks employed some captured ex-white Pups.
• USA: It's claimed that the US Navy used some Pups.

Anatra Anadis

We're back in Russia, and in the World War I in order to bring you another airplane from that country.

The Anatra Anadis was a single-seat fighter variant of the Anatra Anasal developed in 1916.

It was designed by the chief engineer of the Anatra company in Odessa, a French designer named Elisée Alfred Descamps following an order to build a single-seat fighter variant of the Anatra Anasal (AKA Anatra DS) two-seat reconnaissance airplane. It retained the original Anasal two-bay configuration and the fabric-covered wooden construction. It differed from the Anasal in the lack of the observers' post, in the provision made to install a forward firing machine-gun and it was powered by the 150hp Salmson 9U (Canton-Unné) water cooled, radial engine which was replaced by a not specified Vee-eight water-cooled engine.

The prototype was flown for the first time on 23rd October 1916 and was piloted by the factory test pilot, another French named Jean Robinet. He and Descamps planned to modify the Anadis as a two-seater retaining the forward-firing machine gun and adding an extra fuel tank in order to use the Anadis to scape from Russia in the event of the revolution, that was already foreseeable. However that plan was discovered by the Lt. Kononenko an Imperial Russian Army acceptance pilot attached to Anatra, and those modifications were rolled-back and the development continued as a single-seat fighter.

Testing continued until 11th November 1916 with the official report from the Imperial Army claiming that it was "... no inferior to any German aircraft of the same type (sic) and with greater power.". However, despite the good performance reports, not a single airplane was ordered and the project remained on hold at the Odessa factory until 14th October 1917 when, in the middle of the Bolshevik revolution, piloted by the Staff Cpt. N.A. Makarov, it took-off in a planned flight Odessa-Thessaloniki-Rome-Marseilles-Paris and then, theoretically, back to Russia. That flight it's believed to be the original scape route planned by Descamps himself, so it's suspicious to say the least, that he would have returned to Russia.
In the end the airplane took-off, from Odessa, but the engine failed near Iași , Romania, and was forced to land. It's remarkable to note that this flight, Odessa-Iași, was one of the very first long-distance flights ever with almost 300 km. flown.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatra_Anadis
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/misc/ram/dianatra.html

Mosca Bystritskii

Today we bring you another not very known Russian world war I fighter.

The Mosca Bystritskii was a Russian fighter/recon airplane designed and developed during 1916 by the Muscovite company Mosca-Bystristkii.

Inspired by some contemporary airplanes like the Nieuport IV or the Morane-Saulnier G, the prototype and earliest versions, were unarmed and were two-seaters intended to perform recon duties and the fighter versions (the bis ones) were faster due to the fact that they weren't two-seaters. It was powered by an 80hp LeRhone engine or Clerget Rotary engine. The bis version was armed with either a 7,7mm unsynchronised forward-firing machine-gun with a bullet defector mounted in the propeller or, alternatively, with the machine-gun mounted above the cockpit and firing clear from the propeller. In total, 50 exemplars of it were manufactured and it's known that some of them were built after the Russian revolution.

A very interesting feature of this airplane were the backwards folding wings to make the airplane easier to transport by road or by train.

As we said previously, only two versions were made:

• Bystritskii: Two-seater unarmed recon version.
• Bystritskii bis: Single-seater fighter version.

SPAD SA Series - Foreign Users

Today we bring you a new French airplane which, despite not being the best that France offered during the war, it achieved some renown when piloted by Russian hands.

The SPAD SA. was a tractor biplane of unorthodox design which, in order to achieve a forward firing airplane (don't forget that when this airplane was designed, neither France nor any of the entente countried had the synchronized machine gun technology) , placed a machine-gun equipped nacelle in front of the pilot placing the engine between the pilot and the gunner.

In foreign service it was offered to Italy, who rejected it and to Russia, where they received some field modifications like the replacement of skis instead of wheels. Although the Russian spectatives for this airplane were low (since the word spad in Russian means 'Slump' or 'Plummet') at least two crews achieved some success with this airplane. In november 1916 one aerial victory was claimed by the 2nd Lieutenant Vladimirovich and his gunner Bashinskiy.
It's also known that at least one served with the Bolsheviks during the Russian civil war before it was retired for being obsolete.

Sikorsky S.16

We continue with the very first operational Russian fighter in history.

Initially conceived as an escort fighter for the Sikorsky Ilya Muromets (just like the Olchovskij Torpedo ) it was designed by the person, Igor Sikorsky,  and was manufactured by RBVZ (which stands for Russko-Baltiiskii Vagonnyi Zavod - Russo-Baltic Wagon Works) .
Some early variants were two-seaters as they were intended for observation-scout duties. 

It was made out of wood and the fighter versions were equipped with a synchronising gear designed by the Russian engineer Lavrov, for the single 7,7mm forward-firing machine-gun. It was powered by a 100hp LeRhone engine and the first prototype was completed on 6th February 1915. On December of the same year the first production contract was placed on RBVZ. Although it was highly maneouvrable, it's performance was poor compared with another fighters of the same year, specially considering that it was seriously underpowered. 
The last production batch was completed in 1917, just before the revolution, and many S.16 fought through the Russian Civil war and at least one of them saw service under the Ukranian People's Republic. Some of them remained active until 1923. 
Another floatplane sub-variant was made, intended to serve with the navy, but it wasn't successful.

Olchovskij Torpedo

Today we write and draw a very early Russian airplane.

The Olchovskij Torpedo was an airplane designed in 1914 heavily influenced by other parasol fighters of the same year like the Morane-Saulnier L or the Pfalz A.I.

It was designed by Captain Vladimir M Ol'khovsky, who was the officer in command of the 5th Air Park at Bryansk. Initially his intention was to design a two-seat observation airplane which he nicknamed the 'torpedo' because of the shape of the fuselage and designing, therefore, the very first monocoque fuselage built in Russia.

Made completely out of wood, the first exemplar was completed in Odessa in February 1917 and was powered by an 80hp Le Rhone 9C engine. After some flight tests, it was decided to turn it into a fighter, and therefore it was refitted with a better 110hp Le Rhone 9J engine. Not only that, but the tail was also modified in order to make it more aerodinamic, the observer seat was removed to make the airplane lighter and, most important of it all a forward firing machine gun was added in the right side of the fuselage.

The flying characteristics of the Torpedo were considered to be good... for 1914, not for 1917 and therefore it was only used as a trainer at the Gatchina flying school in Odessa. The fate of this airplane is unknown and, most likely, it was destroyed.

SPAD S.VII - Third entry, foreign users vol. 3

We continue with our SPAD S.VII saga, this time with even more foreign users of the SPAD S.VII, this entry is a continuation of this other one:

• Poland: One of the main post-war users of the SPAD S.VII and one of the very first airplanes that constituted the Wojska Lotnicze (Polish Air Force) back in 1918. It saw action during the Polish Soviet war.
• Portugal: It made famous in this country because the Portuguese ace Oscar Monteir Torres, the only Portuguese pilot who died in aerial-combat during the great war, flew one of these. When the Portuguese Aviation Corps was founded back in February 1919, the fighter squadron was equipped with S.VIIs. This same squadron was renamed in December 1921 as 'Captain Monteiro Torres Squadron'.
• Romania: Apparently some S.VII were employed during the great war by the Romanian Royal Aeronautics. As we couldn't find graphic evidence, the colours are speculative.
• Imperial Russia: The Imperial Russian Air Service employed them widely in the eastern front of the great war and it was also used by the Whites during the Russian Civil War. It's also worth mentioning that the three versions of this airplane were employed: The ones made by SPAD themselves, the ones made by Blériot and the ones made locally by DUX in Moscow.
• Serbia: Some Serbian pilots, integrated in the French SPA.523  squadron, flew S.VII airplanes which later, after the war would form the very first fighter units of the kingdom of Croats Slovenes and Serbs, or, as was commonly known, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (those will be covered in the next entry). During the great war they were used in the Macedonian (Thessaloniki) Front
• Red Army/USSR: The Russian Red Army, employed them widely during the Russian civil war and Polish Soviet war and was among the very first fighters used by the Workers' and Peasants' Air Fleet (the precursor of the Soviet Air Force). They were ex-Imperial units or captured ones.

Note: We know that theorically those SPAD used by the United Kingdom should be in this entry (as we are following an alphabetical order for the foreign users), but considering that they used it very widely we decided to make a dedicated entry just for them.