Royal Mittelrijkian Air Service

The Royal Mittelrijkian Air Service is the air force of the Kingdom of Mittelrijk's military, created in 2910 before the Conoilithian-Mittelrijkian War. Mittelrijkian army officers had long been interested in using hot air balloons for military purposes ever since their widespread introduction into Mittelrijk. and the Air Service was founded to suit their desires. During the Conoilithian-Mittelrijkian War, it fielded a potent array of aeroplanes and airships. In the final year of the war, they developed long-ranged bomber aircraft capable of launching aerial raids on Conoilithian cities.

AIRCRAFT
The first flying machines in the Royal Mittelrijkian Air Servíce's collection were not much more than simple observation balloons. In 2911, however, when Mittelrijkian inventors Anders Dieleman and Kasper Dirksen successfully built and flew the first aeroplane, the Air Service quickly contracted the two and their colleagues to produce aircraft for them.

In 2913, just in time for the beginning of the Conoilithian-Mittelrijkian War, Dieleman-Dirksen 13, nicknamed the 'Tormfalk' ('Kestrel') for its distinctive appearance, entered into service. It was a two-seater single-engine monoplane, with a pilot and a spotter, made out of fabric stretched over a light wooden frame. Initially they were produced in relatively small numbers, performing mainly reconnaissance roles, although they would also take on impromptu ground-attack roles via the spotter carrying hand grenades and serving as a bombardier.

To counter the presence of Conoilithian observation balloons and airships, a new design based heavily off the Tormfalk, the 'Moewe' ('Gull'), was developed. It was a larger, more robust variant of the Tormfalk, with a rotating machine-gun mount for the spotter, and when piloted by skilled crews, it proved to be capable at shooting down observation balloons and airships over the front.

The Mittelrijkians developed airships meant for observation and bombing as well, which they made after capturing Conoilithian airships that had crashed. The Mittelrijkian airship fleet by the end of the war was smaller than that of the Conoilithians, but equally as dangerous in terms of payload and performance.

In the autumn of 2914, disappointed by the apparently sluggish nature of airships, the Mittelrijkians began to research long-range bomber planes to replace their airship fleet. The first bomber plane flew in the first month of 2915, with the first air raid conducted by bombers taking place at the end of the winter, targeting the Conoilithian city of Lioran. The Royal Mittelrijkain Air Service Van-Grosse 15 heavy bomber, nicknamed the 'Aelbitrös' ('Albitross'), pleased officers, and would be used extensively until the end of the war, bombing both front and rear-line positions like artillery batteries and supply depots, and also bombing Conoilithian industrial centres. The Mittelrijkians were able to produce and deploy so many of them that in the end, even with the introduction of new fighter aircraft, the Conoilithians had no effective defence against them.