The Imperial Russian Air Force (Императорскiй военно-воздушный флотъ Emperor's Military Air Fleet) existed in the Russian Empire between 1910 and 1917. 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 1904 Nikolai Zhukovsky established the world's first Aerodynamic Institute in Kachino near Moscow.
