The Air Service began in 1893 as a balloon corps (Militär-Aeronautische Anstalt) and would later be re-organized in 1912 under the command of Major Emil Uzelac, an army engineering officer.

[citation needed] At the outbreak of war, the Air Service was composed of 10 observation balloons, 85 pilots and 39 operational aircraft.

[1] On 25 August 1914 (by the Old Style calendar still used in Russia)[8 September 1914 New Style], after trying various methods on previous occasions unsuccessfully, Pyotr Nesterov used his Morane-Saulnier Type G (s/n 281) to ram the Austrian Albatros B.II reconnaissance aircraft of observer Baron Friedrich von Rosenthal and pilot Franz Malina from FLIK 11.

Lohners were the most common variant; the K Series heavy bombers mounted an offensive against the Italians that suffered few casualties.

It crashed in the city and both pilots [Captain Kurt von Schäfer and his assistant, trainee officer Otto Kirsch] died from their injuries.

[11] The new front was in the southern Alps, making for hazardous flying and near-certain death to any aviators crash-landing in the mountains.

[12] To remedy Italy's initial shortage of fighter planes, France posted a squadron to defend Venice from the Austro-Hungarians.

By 19 June 1917, the situation had deteriorated to the point where an Italian attack force of 61 bombers and 84 escorting planes was opposed by an Austro-Hungarian defense of only 3 fighters and 23 two-seaters.

Some of the disparity can be explained by the importation of four squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps to augment the Italian fighter force in the wake of the Battle of Caporetto.

[20] The local armistice on 3 November 1918 was the effective end of the Luftfahrtruppen, as its parent nation passed into history.

These aircraft included: Although all of the European powers were unprepared for modern air warfare in the beginning of the conflict, Austria-Hungary was one of the most disadvantaged due to the empire's traditionalist military and civilian leadership combined with a relatively low degree of industrialisation.

For instance, the most widely used Austro-Hungarian fighter, the Hansa-Brandenburg D.I, lacked the gun synchronization gear that would allow aiming the airplane's nose and firing its weaponry through the propeller.

[24] Before the war, the army also operated four airships at Fischamend: Militärluftschiff III was destroyed in a mid-air collision with a Farman HF.20 on 20 June 1914.

These groups were located: In turn, the Flars forwarded aircraft received to Fliegeretappenpark ("aviation parks").

For instance: At the outbreak of war, Austro-Hungarian aircraft were brightly painted in red and white bands all along the fuselage.

Typically, a flying boat sported a black cross pattée on a box of white background for national insignia; the boxed crosses were found on top of upper wing surfaces both port and starboard, under both lower wing surfaces, and on the sides of the hull.