The value of an air show was not merely in its spectacle; it was also the Tsarist Government flaunting its military strength to the outside world. Never mind how this batch of aircraft had been acquired—having them was what mattered.
In a sense, being able to buy aircraft was itself a display of strength. After all, most countries could not buy them even if they wanted to.
Whether intentionally or not, Alexander III invited the ambassadors of European nations to attend the air show, including the French ambassador.
By European convention, an ally's ally was not necessarily an ally, nor was an ally's enemy necessarily an enemy.
The Austro-French War and the Anglo-Russian War were both separate instances of conflict, with no interference between them.
Thus, even as the continental war raged fiercely, France and Russia still maintained normal diplomatic relations.
Once it was confirmed that the Russians had equipped themselves with aircraft, the French ambassador immediately took notice. Ever since Paris had been bombed, the French Government had been driven to distraction over aircraft manufacturing technology.
The facts proved that groping their way forward alone was far from simple. Without technical experts in the field of aviation, the French Government could only gather a few civilian enthusiasts and a group of mechanical engineers to cobble together a makeshift research team.
The results were too miserable to mention. Never mind industrial production—the aircraft produced in the laboratory were still at the primitive stage, the kind that could take off but never return.
Simply achieving free round trips and safe landings would require vast amounts of time for testing and exploration. The French forces at the front could not wait that long.
As Ambassador Albon knew, in order to obtain aircraft manufacturing technology as quickly as possible, the government had not