James Libbey - Foundations of Russian Military Flight 1885–1925

FOUNDATIONS OF

RUSSIAN

MILITARY FLIGHT,

18851925

FOUNDATIONS OF

RUSSIAN

MILITARY FLIGHT,

18851925

JAMES K. LIBBEY

NAVAL INSTITUTE PRESS

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND

This book has been brought to publication with the generous assistance of Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest.

Naval Institute Press

291 Wood Road

Annapolis, MD 21402

2019 by James K. Libbey

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Libbey, James K., author.

Title: Foundations of Russian military flight, 18851925 / James K. Libbey.

Description: Annapolis, MD : Naval Institute Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018051296 (print) | LCCN 2019000004 (ebook) | ISBN 9781682474327 (ePDF) | ISBN 9781682474235 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Aeronautics, MilitarySoviet UnionHistory. | Air powerSoviet UnionHistory. | Soviet Union. Raboche-Krestianskaia Krasnaia Armiia. Voenno-Vozdushnye SilyHistory.

Classification: LCC UG635.S65 (ebook) | LCC UG635.S65 L53 2019 (print) | DDC 358.4/03094709041dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018051296

Print editions meet the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).

Printed in the United States of America.

27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 199 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First printing

All maps courtesy of Robert W. Carberry.

TO JOYCES FRIEND DMITRY AVDEEV

CONTENTS

MAPS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I AM INDEBTED to numerous friends and professional colleagues who responded to my request for assistance in the preparation of this book. On one of my trips to Russia, Mikhail Baskov facilitated my research efforts and even drove me to Monino to spend time at the Russian Air Force Museum. Special thanks must also go to librarians at the Jack Hunt Library of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Daytona Beach, Florida. The library has one of the more complete collections of aviation and aerospace materials. When rare or Russian-language books were needed, Sue Burkhart and Elizabeth Sterthaus efficiently secured them through interlibrary loans. Suzanne Eichler graciously answered my general questions about the library.

Many individuals took the time to read a chapter, and their reviews resulted in suggestions or corrections that improved the manuscript. They include Carl J. Bobrow, museum specialist, Collections Processing Unit, National Air and Space Museum; Stephen G. Craft, global conflict studies professor, ERAU; Tom D. Crouch, senior curator, National Air and Space Museum; James M. Cunningham, former associate vice president for academic affairs, ERAU; Glenn J. Dorn, global conflict studies chair, ERAU; Charles Eastlake, former aerospace engineering technology professor, ERAU; George C. Herring, alumni professor of history emeritus, University of Kentucky; Thomas B. Hilburn, former distinguished engineering professor, ERAU; Russell Lee, Aeronautics Department chair, National Air and Space Museum; Bruce Menning, Russian military specialist, U.S. Army Command and Staff College; Robert Oxley, former associate vice president for academic affairs, ERAU; and Col. Ted R. Powers Jr., former air science professor, ERAU.

Finally, I am grateful for the help in obtaining photographic images and maps. Kate Igoe, permissions archivist at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, spent time identifying appropriate Russian photos available from the museum; Cindy Taylor, retired from the Boeing Company, resurrected useful prints that are one hundred years old; and Robert Carberry applied his skills as a cartographer to produce excellent maps that illustrate the books narrative.

This book is dedicated to Dmitry Avdeev. As one of my students from Russia, he holds dual citizenship in the land of his birth and in the United States. Today Dmitry is a commercial pilot and an aviation expert, specializing in oversized and humanitarian air cargo transportation.

Note: some Russian dates are presented in the Old Style (O.S.) of the Julian calendar. In the twentieth century the Old Style was thirteen days behind the New Style (N.S.) of the Gregorian calendar. The United States and many other countries use Gregorian dates. Soviet Russia adopted the New Style calendar early in 1918. For the years 1917 on, the text uses the New Style calendar exclusively. Except for Russians who later became Americans, Russian names are transliterated from the Cyrillic to the Latin.

CHAPTER 1

PREPARING THE WAY

S ERBIAN NATIONALIST Gavrilo Princep assassinated Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, when the archduke visited Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. As capital of a province illegally absorbed by Austria and ardently desired by Serbia, Sarajevo came to symbolize the nationalism and rivalry that helped ignite the Great War, later known as World War I. The Austrian declaration of war on Serbia, on July 28, set into motion the alliance system that pitted the Central Powers of Austria, Germany, and later Turkey against the Allied Powers of Great Britain, France, Russia, and eventually Italy. Over time ten other nations joined in the conflict, ranging from Japan in the east to the United States in the west. Over the next several months the government in Petrograd (patriotically renamed from Saint Petersburg in August 1914 by replacing the German burg with the Russian grad, for city) mobilized its armed forces against Austria; Serbia was something akin to Russias godchild. A Slavic country, Serbia shared Russias Orthodox faith and Cyrillic alphabet; indeed, its very existence emerged from the fallout of the Russian war with the Ottoman Turks, who had controlled the Serbs. When Russia also mobilized against Austrias ally, Germany, the Germans declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914 (N.S.).

Because of Russias love-hate posture regarding Western Europe and the United States, rarely did its emperors imitate the dramatic behavior of Tsar Petr the Great. A member of the Romanov family, he technically ruled the empire starting in 1682, but actually exercised power only between 1689 and 1725. Petr imported Western products, practices, and personnel in his forcefulbut not always successfulattempt to modernize his Slavic domain. On the other hand, Tsar Nikolai II, the Romanov who ruled before and during the Great War, was at least open to the kind of Western technology that could be used in military hardware. The reason is not hard to discern. Russia suffered a series of disastrous defeats on both land and sea in the Russo-Japanese War of 19041905. It was an extraordinary moment in world history when an island country of Asia whipped the worlds largest empire. Small wonder that Nikolai Romanov and his semi-autocratic administration suddenly recognized that the empires military needed serious modernizing, from artillery to warships and everything in between. After 1905 Russia spent millions of rubles on war materiel; unfortunately, its military leadership remained backward throughout the empire.