Lisunov Li-2 Cargo Plane Soviet DC-3 & C-47 - Weapons of Victory
Video from the channel Epic Soviet Documentaries about Douglas DC-3, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 11:37. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
Re-uploaded version of the Russian documentary about the Li-2, the Soviet aircraft built from the Douglas DC-3. It tells how a passenger plane ended up being one of the key transports of the Soviet Union in World War II.
Historical background
In the 1930s Soviet military aviation relied on the heavy TB-3 bomber and the PS-9 to move cargo and paratroopers, and neither worked well. In 1936 the USSR obtained a DC-3 and its technical documentation under contract, which had to be converted to the metric system and adapted to Soviet standards. In 1939 the Khimki factory, near Moscow, began building the series as the PS-84. In May 1940 the military variant PS-84K was tested, with a reinforced cabin floor, a side cargo door, a loading crane, stretchers and two 7.62 mm machine guns. That same year a decree ordered that all PS-84s be built so they could be converted to military configuration.
Key facts
It had a crew of four and two ASh-62IR engines of 1,000 hp, weighed 11 t, carried 21 passengers and reached 320 km/h, a ceiling of 5,600 m and a range of 2,500 km. At the start of the war there were more than 70 civilian PS-84s and about 50 military ones, grouped into transport units. In summer 1941 Mikhail Kulik designed a dorsal turret. From 10 October to 21 December these aircraft carried 6,000 t of food, medicine and ammunition to Leningrad and evacuated 53,000 people. Production moved to Tashkent, where the first aircraft rolled out in January 1942, and mounts for 500 kg or 250 kg bombs were added. In September 1942 it took the name Li-2, after Boris Lisunov. More than 2,300 units were built during the war. On 9 May 1945 a Li-2 carried the German instrument of surrender to Moscow.