The Li-2 (factory designation PS-84) was a Soviet transport aircraft produced from 1939 to 1952 under an American license for the Douglas DC-3. It was one of the most numerous and versatile aircraft of Soviet aviation, used as a passenger airliner, a military transport, and a bomber. The Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky) connection of the Li-2 stems from the fact that production of the aircraft was mastered at Plant No. 84 in Khimki and later in Tashkent; during the Great Patriotic War, assembly components and related production were dispersed among the industrial centers of the USSR, including Gorky. The USSR obtained the rights to produce the DC-3 as part of a broad program of industrial cooperation with American corporations.

History of Development

In the 1930s the Soviet Union actively acquired foreign industrial licenses. In 1935, an agreement was signed at Rockefeller Center in New York between the Main Directorate of the Low-Current Electrical Industry of the USSR People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry (Glavesprom) and the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) — one example of the large-scale Soviet-American technological cooperation of that era.[1] Negotiations over aviation licenses followed along the same lines: the USSR acquired from the American side the right to build the Douglas DC-3, and from 1939 the aircraft began to be built under the designation PS-84 ("passenger aircraft of Plant No. 84"). In 1942 the aircraft was named the Li-2, in honor of the engineer Boris Pavlovich Lisunov, who oversaw the mastering of licensed production.

Design and Use

The Li-2 is an all-metal low-wing monoplane with two piston engines. Compared with the original DC-3, the Soviet version received a number of changes: domestically built ASh-62IR engines, a modified cargo cabin layout, a reinforced floor, and a larger sliding door for paratroop drops. During the Great Patriotic War the aircraft was used as a military transport, bomber, and liaison aircraft; it delivered supplies to besieged Leningrad and moved troops and equipment along the entire front. After 1945 the Li-2 remained the backbone of the Aeroflot fleet on local and medium-haul routes until it was replaced by jet aircraft in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Production

Series production was carried out at Plant No. 84 (Khimki, later evacuated to Tashkent). In total, about 4,900 aircraft were built up to 1952. The aircraft was operated in the USSR, the countries of the Eastern Bloc, China, and a number of other states. Some individual examples have survived in aviation museums.

Connection to Gorky

During the Second World War, the industry of Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod) was heavily involved in the production of aviation equipment and related components. GAZ and other Gorky enterprises produced assemblies and parts for the needs of military aviation; the Li-2, as the country's most numerous transport aircraft, was part of the overall cooperative chain of wartime production.

Sources

  1. GTRK "Nizhny Novgorod" (Vesti) — In the Heart of the Forests of Gorodets District Lies an Open-Air Museum of Technology
  2. Pro Gorod Nizhny Novgorod — All Major Air Crashes in Nizhny Novgorod Region over 86 Years: "It Fell onto the Square During the Parade"
  3. drive2.ru — About Jet Aircraft in the Forest on a River Bank — "Travels," "Travels" on DRIVE2
  4. russianplanes.net — Registry: Lisunov Li-2 ✈ russianplanes.net ✈ our aviation