The official formation of a distinct air arm can be officially dated to June 1, 1924. On that day issued a directive separating the Air Office of the armed services into a distinct branch wholly independent of the army. By June and August 1924, pilots were training in France and Russia. The air service however had to wait another two years before being officially recognized as the Air Force on February 24, 1926. By that same year, the air service possessed a modest total of just three Junkers F.13 aircraft. By 1926 the number of aircraft in the air force inventory doubled to 20 machines. This increased to 30 with the arrival of 10 Russian Polikarpov R-5 aircraft by June 1933.
