 The R.30/16 aircraft was later fitted with four examples of one of the first forms of variable-pitch propellers, believed to have been ground-adjustable only.The R.VI equipped two "Luftstreitkräfte" (Imperial German Army Air Service) units, "Riesenflugzeug-Abteilung" (Rfa) 500 and Rfa 501, with the first delivered June 28, 1917.The units first served on the Eastern Front, based at Alt-Auz and Vilua in Kurland until August 1917.