LISUNOV LI-2 "WARBIRD"

The Lisunov Li-2 was a medium-range twin-engine passenger (civil version) and transport (military version) aircraft, in the Soviet low-wing configuration from the Second World War and the post-war period. The propulsion was provided by two M-62 or ASz-62IR engines with power (respectively): 840 and 1000 HP each. The flight of the prototype took place in December 1986, and serial production lasted from 1939 to 1947. In its course it was created - by different and divergent estimates - from about 4,900 to about 6,200 aircraft of this type. Lisunov Li-2 is a license version of the American Douglas DC-3 aircraft. However, after the USSR purchased the license, the design of the aircraft was changed. The modernizations concerned mainly the use of other engines, a significant strengthening of the aircraft structure, especially the wings, adaptation of the fuselage to the installation of a dorsal turret, and reduction of the wingspan. After these modernizations, the machine entered production, and the main factory for producing these aircraft was the Khimki plant near Moscow. Several versions of this aircraft were developed in the course of production, for example: Li-2P (civilian passenger version capable of carrying up to 28 passengers), Li-2G (military transport version capable of carrying up to 2.8 tons of cargo) or Li-2S (version with extended range). Li-2 aircraft served throughout the Second World War as one of the basic transport aircraft of the Red Army. They were also widely used by other countries after 1945, including Poland, Czechoslovakia, the PRC and Hungary.