[3] Later in the same year the Imperial Russian Army purchased a number of French and British aeroplanes and began training its first military pilots.

[5] 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[7] On 12 August 1912 the Imperial Russian Air Service, formerly part of the Engineer Corps, became a separate branch of the army.

[1] During the First Balkan War there was a Russian air unit in the Bulgarian Army[5] which was composed of 10 civil volunteers (4 pilots and 6 technicians) and commanded by S. Schetinin[8] In 1913 Igor Sikorsky built the first four-engine biplane, the Russky Vityaz, and his famous bomber aircraft, the Ilya Muromets.

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

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.

[5] Later, several aeroplanes were armed with steel flechettes to attack ground targets (columns of enemy infantry and cavalry, campsites, etc.).

Summer 1915 – petrol bombs (glass bottles containing a flammable mixture of gasoline and mazut) were used by pilots to attack ground targets[20] 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).

The fact that so many obsolescent machines remained in service produced Otryads that were an eclectic mix of aircraft; some front line, others nearly so, and some that should not have been flying.

With so many different engines and airframes from French, British and Russian factories, trying to keep the machines flying was a constant challenge for Imperial ground crews.

One report from the American War Department dated August 24, 1916 stated that, "The great majority of Russian machines are very dangerous to fly, due to the lack of proper over-hauling and having been tinkered with by inexperienced men.

Lack of spare parts induced the Russians to fit magnetos and sparking systems to motors for which they were not built, and this makes the wear and tear excessive all around.

The Russian High Command was tardy in realizing the necessity for arming its aircraft throughout 1914 and 1915, leaving frustrated aviators using such impromptu armaments as pistols, rifles, trolled anchors and cables, and other makeshifts.

[35] In late 1915, Naval Lieutenant Victor Dybovsky of the 20th KAO invented a system of cam plates mounted on an engine's crankshaft that would prevent a machine gun from holing an aeroplane's propeller.

Static tests at the Lux Aircraft Works proved its feasibility by November 1915; towards the end of the month, Morane-Saulnier G serial no.

Poruchik Mikhail Shadsky flew test flights on both 9 and 29 December; cold thickened the machine gun's lubricant both times, preventing it from firing.