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. With the onset of the Russian Civil War, some former IRAS pilots joined Alexander Kolchak on the White Russian side, but the White movement never created an official air force. Most of what remained of the former Imperial Russian Air Service was reformed into the subsequent Soviet Air Forces. History Background The origins of Russian aviation go back to theoretical projects of the 1880s by pioneer Russian scientists such as Nikolai Kibalchich and Alexander Mozhaysky. During the 1890s aviation innovation was further advanced by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. In 1902–1903 during military maneuvers in the Kiev Military District, the Imperial Russian Army used several aerostats for reconnaissance and coordination of artillery fire. The Aeronautical company (Отдельная воздухоплавательная рота) was under the command of Colonel A.M. Kovanko. In 1904 Nikolai Zhukovsky established the world's first Aerodynamic Institute (Аэродинамический институт) in Kuchino near Moscow. One aeronautical battalion (учебный Восточно-Сибирский воздухоплавательный батальон) with 4 aerostats took part in the Russo-Japanese War. In 1908, the Russian Aeroclub (Всероссийский Аэроклуб) was established. In 1910, the Imperial Russian Army sent several officers to France for training as pilots. Later in the same year the Imperial Russian Army purchased a number of French and British aeroplanes and began training its first military pilots. the first aviation school was opened in the summer of 1910 in Gatchina the second aviation school was opened in the autumn of 1910 in Sevastopol (in 1912 this school was moved to Kacha) 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 plane lost in a competition with the French "Farman" in 1911, and never entered service On 12 August 1912 the Imperial Russian Air Service, formerly part of the Engineer Corps, became a separate branch of the army. During the First Balkan War there was a Russian air unit in the Bulgarian Army which was composed of 10 civil volunteers (4 pilots and 6 technicians) and commanded by S. Schetinin In 1913 Igor Sikorsky built the first four-engine biplane, the Russky Vityaz, and his famous bomber aircraft, the Ilya Muromets. That same year, Dmitry Grigorovich built