Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops

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The Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops (Kaiserliche und Konigliche Luftfahrtruppen or K.u.K. Luftfahrtruppen) was the air force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the empire's demise in 1919. It saw combat on both the Eastern Front and Italian Front during World War I. Despite being much smaller and usually less technologically advanced than its contemporary European counterparts, it performed with tenacity and bravery during the war.

1 Early history
2 World War I
3 Aircraft
4 External links/references

[edit] Early history

The Air Service began in 1893 as a balloon corps (Militär-Aeronautische Anstalt) and would later be re-organized in 1912 as the under the command of Major Emil Uzelac, an army engineering officer. The Air Service would remained under his command until the end of the war in 1919. The earliest officers of the air force were private pilots with no prior military aviation training.

[edit] World War I

At the outbreak of the war the Air Service was composed of a mere ten observation balloons, eighty-five pilots, and around thirty-five to forty aircraft. Although all of the European powers were quite unprepared for modern air warfare in the beginning of the conflict, Austria-Hungary was one of the most disadvantaged. This was due to the empire's mostly traditionalist military and civilian leadership combined with a relatively low amount of industrialisation.

Austro-Hungarian pilots faced off against the air forces of Italy and Russia, their only proximate opponents that fielded aircraft during the war. They also fought British squadrons that served in the Italian Front.

[edit] Aircraft

The aircraft employed by the Air Service were a combination of Austro-Hungarian designs built within the empire, German models that were domestically manufactured by Austrian firms (often with modifications), and planes that were imported from Germany. These aircraft included: