Having arrived in Moscow, he initially worked as a driver while studying Russian before volunteering for the Red Army; he then became a cadet at a rifle school before being deployed in Ukraine. Soon he was promoted to commander of an armored car after repairing it when it suffered an engine failure. Having been admitted to the Communist Party in November that year, he went on to pursue an aviation career, first at the Zaraisk Aviation School and later at the Kachin Military Aviation School of Pilots. After graduating he was assigned to a military squadron; there he flew reconnaissance sorties against the Bashmachi revolt in Central Asia. During one mission in 1926 he was shot down and captured by the Basmachis, but managed to escape by hijacking the plane of a British military advisor and flying it to Soviet controlled territory, for which he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. For rescuing fishermen in the Sea of Azov in 1928 he received a certificate of appreciation and an honorary weapon from the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.