British Aircraft in Russia‪.‬

During the years immediately preceding World War I, the Tsarist Russian government began purchasing aircraft from Great Britain and France, a practice that continued throughout the war. While Russia received most of its aviation equipment from France, Britain was represented by many important types of aircraft and engines. Shipments of aircraft, as well as every sort of military equipment, were carried by merchant ships from ports in France and Britain to the mostly ice- free port at Archangel on the White Sea. Soon after the Bolshevik "October" Revolution, of November 7, 1917, most of the Russian army and navy aviation equipment passed into Red hands, forming the foundation for the new Red Air Fleet. During the Civil War in North and South Russia, the Reds would face British RAF aviation detachments brought in to support the Whites. In North Russia, the British formed Slavo-British aviation units (Slavyano-Britansky otryad), that operated from rough airfields near Archangel. As the Civil War progressed in both regions, numbers of enemy aircraft and their crews were captured by Red troops. Even after the end of the Civil War, many foreign aircraft remained in the inventory of the Red Air Fleet. These included previously captured and newly purchased planes from British, French, German, and Italian companies.