Lisunov Li-2

The Lisunov Li-2, NATO reporting name Cab and originally designated PS-84, was the Soviet licence-built version of the Douglas DC-3. A production licence was awarded to the Soviet government on 15 July 1936, and the engineer Boris Lisunov spent November 1936 to April 1939 at Douglas translating the design, during which the plant made some 1,293 engineering changes, mostly to convert the drawings to metric standards. It was built at State Aircraft Plant No. 84 in Moscow-Khimki and, after the factory's evacuation in 1941, at the Tashkent Aviation Production Association in Tashkent. Differences from the American aircraft included Shvetsov ASh-62IR radial engines, a passenger door on the starboard side and a top-opening cargo door on the port side. A total of 4,937 aircraft of all Li-2 variants were produced between 1940 and 1954, in airliner, cargo, military transport, reconnaissance, parachute, bomber and weather versions.