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)

Breguet 14, part seven. European Users, part four.

 

The Bréguet 14 was a French biplane bomber and reconnaissance aircraft of the World War I that was widely used during and after that conflict. France was its main user, but the type also saw service abroad, in the following countries:

• Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic: Six Bre.14B.2 were captured by Bolshevik troops in 1919 in Yekaterinodar, Kuban region, during the Russian Civil War. Almost all of them were damaged, but its known that at least three were used operationally in Southern Front, at the Caucasus. After the war, the surviving machines were assigned to a reconnaissance regiment based in Moscow. 
  
  
• Spain: In July 1919 a first batch of Br.14A.2 arrived in Spain as part of a French military mission. A total of eight machines were purchased, all of them powered by the Renault 12F engine.
  The first two Br.14A.2s were assigned to the Tetuan Escuadrilla (Tétouan Flight), where both machines were employed in combat missions. In 1921 one Br.14A.2 powered by a Fiat A.12bis engine was bought. This new engine was preferred as it was cheaper than the Renault 12F. These new machines arrived in time to take part in the initial stages of the Moroccan campaign, where they operated from Seville. 
  Later, in 1921 there were two Grupos (Groups - Squadron-sized units) operating the Br.14 from African soil. The Grupo Nº1 (Group No.1), based at Tétouan and the Grupo Nº2 (Group No.2) based at Larache, south of Tétouan. Each Grupo had one Escuadrilla (Flight) equipped with a Fiat-powered Br.14. In 1923 a third Escuadrilla was added to Grupo Nº1 and was stationed at Larache.
  Later, in 1923 the Grupo de Sevilla (Seville Group) was formed with Fiat-engined Br.14s and was redesignated as 22º Grupo (22nd Group) in February 1927. This unit employed the Br.14s until 1931 when they were replaced by the locally-built Loring R-III.
  An independent Grupo Expedicionario (Expeditionary Group) composed entirely of Br.14s operated in the Melilla and Tétouan areas, but, in 1926 it was assigned back to Grupo Nº1. That same year, Grupo Nº2 returned to Larache and a detachment was created to be sent to the Ifni province. This detachment was later assigned to Grupo Nº3. In October 1926 an unknown number of Fiat-engined Br.14s was sent to Armilla airfield, in Granada, to be assigned to Grupo Nº1 in February 1927, where they remained until 1930 when they were replaced by Breguet 19s. 
  The Fiat engine, although cheaper was unsatisfactory and some machines were modified to fit the 360hp Rolls-Royce VIII engine. These conversions were carried out at the aircraft park in Seville. The two Escuadrillas of Grupo Nº3, based at Larache, were the first ones to receive such modified machines in 1927.  This unit employed those Br.14s just in time to take part in the last aerial operations of the Rif War. 
  Overall the Br.14s remained in service until 1931 when they were replaced by either the Loring R-III or the Breguet 19. From 1928 to 1931 the Escuadrilla Sahariana (Sahara Flight) was equipped with the Rolls-Royce-powered Br.14s. 
  A single Br.14 was also fitted with a 300hp Hispano-Suiza 8F engine. This modification also took place in Seville but, on 17th November 1929 the prototype crashed killing its pilot.
  A total of 140 Br.14s were employed by Spain, and none of them seem to have been built locally.
  
  
• Sweden: In 1923 Swedish Prince Carl bought a Breguet 14Tbis that was refitted in France to be used as an aerial ambulance. This machine, registered as S-ASAA, could be fitted with both floaters or wheels and was donated to the Swedish Red Cross, it was flown by Ferdinand Cornelius (famous Swedish pilot of the time) and it was based at the town of Boden, north of Sweden where it was employed to save lives of the many people living in difficult-to-reach areas in the Swedish Northern Wilderlands.
  
  
• Yugoslavia: When the Yugoslav Royal Army Aviation Department (YRAAD - forerunner of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force) was created in November 1918, twenty-four Br.14A.2 and Br.14B.2s were inherited from the French Escadrille BR.525, which was disbanded and its machines passed on to the Serbian Army, which was also the forerunner of the YRAAD. Twelve additional machines were also acquired when the French Armée de l'Orient left the region. These were followed by 25 more, bought directly from France, in the early 1920s. 
  This last batch included not just Br.14A.2/B.2s but also the Br.14E2 trainer and the Br.14S ambulance variants. In 1923 one aircraft was locally converted into the transport variant with an enclosed cabin and provision for two passengers.
  The Br.14s were powered by the Renault Fcx engine, yielding 300 hp of power. One aircraft was locally fitted with a Fiat A.12 engine and another one with a 260 hp Maybach MbIVa . They were progressively replaced from 1923 onwards, mainly by the Breguet 19. Some machines made it to the year 1932, when their engines were replaced by the Lorraine-Dietrich engine, rated at 400 hp, hoping to enlength their operational life. However, they could only last until the early-to-mid 1930s, when they were definitelly withdrawn from service.

Sources:

1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bréguet_14

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

3rd Windsock Datafile Special - Breguet 14

4th http://www.avrosys.nu/aircraft/Flygkomp/21Breguet.htm

5th http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/yugo/jkrv/types/breguet_14.htm

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 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

Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard - Part three

The Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard was a British fighter designed in 1918 that was planned to enter service in the Great War. It was powered by a 300hp Hispano-Suiza 8Fb inline engine and was armed with two 0.303 Vickers machine guns placed in the front of the fuselage.
The type was expected to equip the French Aéronautique Militaire, the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Service with more than 1500 airplanes ordered.
They served with the Spanish Aeronáutica Militar from 1922 when  10 or 12 were bought. Eight of them were sent to the African city of Melilla, while the rest were used to train pilots in Los Alcázares aerodrome, in the south of Spain. Those serving in Melilla formed the "Escuadrilla Martinsyde" until they were replaced by the Nieuport-Delage NiD.29 in 1924. After being retired from service they were used as trainers serving with the training squadron in Cuatro Vientos, in Madrid. They served there until 1931 when the Spanish Republic was declared and, as they were really outdated, they passed on to the Republican Aeronáutica Naval were they served in the base of San Javier, at the southern of Spain until the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936.
Apparently one-hundred of them also served with the Soviet Workers' and Peasants' Air Fleet in 1919 until some date in the mid-late 1920s when they were retired from service.
The type also served with the Uruguayan Escuela Militar de Aeronáutica (which was the name of the predecessor of the Uruguayan Air Force) in 1925.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinsyde_Buzzard
2.http://www.ejercitodelaire.mde.es/stweb/ea/ficheros/pdf/229800650173ACD6C1257C99003F6930.pdf (translated)
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters.

Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 - Foreign Users part two

Note: Just another post to cope with the new nation tags. Nothing new.

• South Africa: The SE.5a was the backbone of the newly created South African Air Force in 1921. It may have taken part in the suppression of the Second Rand Rebellion in 1921.
• Soviet Union: Apparently the Bolshevik forces captured the Polish airplane and it was used in the Russian Civil war.
• Spain: The Spanish government bought at least one (some sources claim that they were two) SE.5a from the surplus of the Great War.
• USA: The SE.5a served with the USAAS (United States Army Air Service) and was locally produced by the Austin aviation company who manufactured 1650 exemplars of it. Curtiss also manufactured one of it out of 1000 planned. Eberhart company also manufactured it's own trainer version out of spare parts and they served as advanced trainers well into the late 20s.

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.

Ansaldo A.1 Balilla - European users

We keep going with this Italian fighter, this time we cover its' European users, excluding the Polish and Italian users because those two will have their own posts.

The Ansaldo A.1 Balilla was sold to many European countries, the ones covered in this post are:

• Belgium: According to the Belgian Military Aviation archives, one Ansaldo A.1 was in service, with the code "1". Apparently it was in service from some 1920 until 1924 when it was written-off. Some sources claim that one Balilla was displayed in Brussels in order to sale it, but no orders were forthcoming. In anyway it's remarkable to point out that in order to make the return trip of that machine to Paris, it was fitted with a British compass taken from a Belgian airplane. As we couldn't find graphical evidence, the drawing is speculative.
• Greece: Eight Balillas were bought by Turkey in order to use them in their independence war against various European users, among them, Greece. In 1923 a Greek cruiser ship seized an Italian cargo ship bound for Turkey loaded with those airplanes which were retained by the Greeks. However, lacking an appropriate training and maintenance manuals they were never operative. They were used as trainers operating from Tatoi airfield, in Athens.
• Latvia: On August 1922 the Ansaldo operatives which were in Warsaw, selling armament to Poland, concluded a contract with Latvia. The contract stipulated four SVA.10 and A.1 with previssions for more. Those airplanes were to be flight-tested in Riga by Ansaldo crews and, on August 21st the Polish government wrote a letter supporting the qualities of those airplanes. In the end, Latvia bought 13 Balillas, but unfortunately, that success claimed the life of the Tenente Mainardi who spun in at Riga-Spilve airfield when performing low-level acrobatics at a festival held in 1924. The Latvian Balillas were used by a fighter squadron first and by a flying school later.
• USSR: The White Russian army bought some Balillas in order to equip some of their fighter squadrons in 1920 but they weren't delivered until 1922 when 18 airplanes arrived by ship via Odessa which was already under Bolshevik control, and were assigned to the Independent Navy Fighter Sections (IAO, later known as OMIAO) at Novy Petergof (2nd IAO) and Odessa (1st IAO) which were organized in the traditional Russian system of six operational aircrafts and two in reserve. The last two Balillas were used by the Moscow School for Advanced Pilots until 1925. It's also known that the 1st IAO used the Balillas from 1923 to 1925 and some accidents were, unfortunately, suffered by various pilots. Even if the data about those accidents are scant, it's known that the No.2 crashed on 7th July 1924 while piloted by Akulinichev and the No. 3 crashed on 26th May 1924 killing its' pilot, SF Paenkov. The type continued in service until 1927 with the 2nd IAO when it was retired from active service.  

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansaldo_A.1_Balilla
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. Windsock Datafile 88 - Ansaldo A.1 Balilla

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.

Ansaldo SVA - Foreign Users, Third Entry

We finish the foreign users for this airplane, by adding the remaining users:

• Poland: It is known that the Polish Wojska Lotnicze employed some of them in the Polish-Soviet war as scouts.
• USSR: It is known too, that the Soviet Air Regiment used some (apparently captured from the Polish front) SVA as scouts also.
• Spain: The Spanish Aeronáutica Militar (Military Aeronautic) employed some SVA.5 in the scout role in North Africa, during the Rif War.
• Uruguay: The Uruguayan Escuela Militar de Aeronáutica (Military School of Aeronautics) employed some SVA.10 in order to teach their pilots. They remained active until 1932.
• USA: The USAAS and later, the USAAC, employed an SVA.5 and, weirdly, the military attache in Rome, had an Ansaldo A.202 as his personal airplane. It's not very common to own a prototype as your personal airplane.
• Yugoslavia: The Royal Yugoslavian Army Aviation Detachment employed some SVA.5. As we couldn't find info about those airplanes. All we could do, was to speculate.

SPAD S.VII - Fourth entry, foreign users vol. 4 *UPDATED*

We keep going with our SPAD S.VII compilation, this time a little bit shorter than usual:

• 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. 
• Siam/Thailand: The Thai king Rama VI, ordered the creation of an aviation division for the Siamese army, and the very first fighter squadrons were equipped with French built SPAD and Nieuport fighters. Please note that those two profiles are somewhat 'semi-speculative' as we only could find black & white references that were often unreadable.
• Ukraine: The Ukrainian People's Republic got two ex-Russian SPADs and used them in the Polish Soviet war. They were integral part of the Ukrainian first air regiment.
• Uruguay: The Uruguayan military school of aeronautics bought some S.VII together with some S.XIII and used them as trainers but they were also part of their first fighter squadron. However we couldn't find graphical evidence on this, so the colours must be considered as speculative.
• USA: Previously used by American pilots in the famous 124th squadron (Lafayette Squadron), the S.VII was among the very first airplanes used by the USAAS (United States Army Air Service), the precursor of the USAF.
• Yugoslavia: Ex-Serbian airplanes were used as trainers in the first flying schools of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

*UPDATE: We felt that the American users were... incomplete, that's why we decided to expand the USAS users and, in order to be consequent with our own criterions, we decided to treat the Lafayette Squadron as part of the French Aéronautique Militaire (as it was in reality) and therefore take them out of this drawing, only to replace them with more USAS airplanes, but don't worry because you can find the Lafayette squadron one's here..

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**UPDATE: About the Spanish Pujol Comabella: In 1917 SPAD society granted to Pujol Comabella Society of Barcelona (which was shortly after absorved by the Hereter society) some blueprints and incomplete specifications of their best product, the S.VII fighter. The Pujol Comabella society started to make a replica of it as best as they could, getting a nice replica of the original and named as 'España'. However, given the quality of the employed materials or because the blueprints and specifications were incomplete, the performance was inferior to the original. 
That factor and the lack of need of a fighter, because up to that date the only role the Spanish Military had performed was to bomb and strafe Rifean positions in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, made the project to fail given the lack of interest. 

Neither political scenario was favourable, it was in the middle of a great political crisis and at the edge of a revolution which was easily put-down by the army without any help from the aviation, which was highly concentrated in the protectorate of Morocco. 

It is interesting to point out how, the differences. It lacks windshield, the upper nose panel is lifted and the tail has two supporting wooden bars instead of just one, probably changes suggested by the engineer Eduardo Barron who was supervising the construction of the replica. Also it's interesting to see how on the presentation model, the characteristic bird of Georges Guynemer was copied. 

Only 12 of them were built and were declared obsolete and scrapped in 1922.

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.