Polikarpov R-1 of the Afghan Air Force in about 1926

The Polikarpov R-1 was a copy of the Aircraft Manufacturing Company DH.9 built in the Soviet Union. The Liberty engine of the DH.9A was used instead of the Puma of the DH.9.

A Soviet-Afghan Treaty was signed in 1921. As part of the agreement, the Soviet Union supplied Polikarpov R-1 aircraft to the Afghan Air Force, the first arriving in 1925. By the end of the Afghan rebellion in 1929, however, just four were serviceable.