The American Transport Turned Soviet Bomber - Lisunov Li-2
Video from the channel Aviation Deep Dive about Douglas DC-3, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 11:03. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
Documentary about the Lisunov Li-2, the DC-3 built under license in the Soviet Union. It tells how it went from passenger aircraft to military transport, night bomber and evacuation aircraft.
Historical context
The USSR received a DC-2 in 1935. In April 1936 it ordered 21 DC-3s and in July bought the manufacturing license. Boris Pavlovich Lisunov traveled to the United States with a group of engineers to translate Douglas's documentation. The work took almost three years, and adapting the design to metric units required 1,293 changes. The aircraft carried two 900 hp ASh-62 radial engines, less powerful than the Pratt & Whitney R-1830s of the DC-3. It entered production in late 1939 as the PS-84, for 14 to 28 passengers, and by mid-1941 there were 72 units. After the German invasion of June 1941 it went into military service as the Li-2, and its production moved east.
Key facts
The military version carried a dorsal turret with a 7.62 mm ShKAS machine gun, later replaced by a 12.7 mm UBT, and two side guns. In the siege of Leningrad the Li-2s carried 5,000 tonnes of cargo and evacuated 50,000 people, including 9,000 wounded soldiers. In 1942 the Li-2VV variant appeared, with a nose fitted for a forward machine gun. That summer, mounts were added under the fuselage for four 250 kg bombs. As a night bomber it operated mainly over Stalingrad, although its main role was transport and paratroop dropping. Lisunov received the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Star. Production reached 627 units in 1944 and 458 in 1945. It continued until 1954 and exceeded 6,000 units in 16 variants. After the war the Li-2 served in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania, in China until 1986 and in North Korea.