Power for the series was through a French-designed Salmson water-cooled radial engine outputting at 150 horsepower. The engine operated in a "puller" configuration, leading the airframe through the skies while driving a two-bladed wooden propeller. Performance specifications included a maximum speed of 84 miles per hour, a service ceiling of 11,500 feet and an endurance time of 3 hours.
When armed, the Type XII was modestly fitted with a single 7.7mm machine gun on a trainable mount at the rear cockpit intended to protect both aircraft and crew from marauding scouts.
The Type XII was fielded across four Russian army air divisions operating along the East Front. The hastily modified aircraft soon exhibited several faulty (and at times lethal) issues including engines prone to bursting into flames and general structural weaknesses. Russian authorities then delayed further deliveries of the Type XII until a formal resolution was realized. However, by the time the military completed its findings, the Type XII was all but a moot design in the grand scope of the war - already severely outclassed by newer mounts appearing over the West Front. The Type XII was now regarded as a limited, underpowered and unreliable platform - neither suitable for frontline service nor for the training of new Russian pilots. Regardless, the Type XII was retained in service and deliveries continued in an effort to shore up the fledgling Russian aircraft inventory. Many were therefore relegated to training groups while a reliance on foreign aircraft for frontline service persisted. Of the 225 aircraft originally ordered by the government, only 214 were ultimately delivered - bringing total production output to 216 units.
After Russia formally removed herself from the war due to the internal upheaval caused by the revolutions of 1917 and the rise of the Bolsheviks, an armistice was signed with Germany in December and this was then followed by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which was signed in March of 1918 (World War 1, itself, ended in November of that year). When the Russian Empire transitioned to become the "Soviet Union" in 1922, all Type XIIs still in service were inherited by the new Soviet Air Force. Estonia became the only foreign operator of the Type XII and this with only a single example used by its air force.
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