Imperial Russian Air Service
The Imperial Russian Air Service was an air force founded in 1912 for Imperial Russia. The Air Service operated for five years and only saw combat in World War I before being reorganized and renamed in 1917 following the Russian Revolution.
A Taran aerial ramming attack performed by Pyotr Nesterov, against an early Albatros B.I
The remains of an Austro-Hungarian Albatros, the first enemy aeroplane destroyed in flight in the history of military aviation
Aircraft hangars for seaplanes of the Imperial Russian Air Service in Reval harbor, some of the first such structures to be made of reinforced concrete
An M-5 in the Black Sea around 1915 during World War I
The Soviet Air Forces (Russian: Военно-Воздушные Силы Союза Советских Социалистических Республик, romanized: Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily Soyuza Sovetskih Sotsialisticheskih Respublik, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force", were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces were formed from components of the Imperial Russian Air Service in 1917, and faced their greatest test during World War II. The groups were also involved in the Korean War, and dissolved along with the Soviet Union itself in 1991–92. Former Soviet Air Forces' assets were subsequently divided into several air forces of former Soviet republics, including the new Russian Air Force. The "March of the Pilots" was its marching song.
Pilot Ivan Kozhedub during the Second World War
Soviet WWII airmen reenactors on parade in 2020.
An air-to-air right underside rear view of a Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 aircraft carrying four AA-6 Acrid missiles
Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 fighter aircraft in 1989
