Lisunov Li-2

The Lisunov Li-2, originally designated PS-84, was a license-built version of the Douglas DC-3. It was produced by GAZ/State Factory #84 in Moscow-Khimki and, after evacuation in 1941, at TAPO in Tashkent. The project was directed by aeronautical engineer Boris Pavlovich Lisunov.

Despite the original intention to incorporate as few changes as necessary to the basic design, the GAZ-84 works documented over 1,200 engineering changes from the Douglas engineering drawings, and it was no small task for Vladimir Myasishchev to change all dimensions from U.S. customary units to metric units. Some of the changes were substantial, such as the use of the Russian Shvetsov ASh-62IR engines, a Soviet development of the nine-cylinder Wright R-1820.

Some military versions of the Li-2 also had bomb racks and a dorsal turret, unlike the military C-47 development of the DC-3.

Lisunov Li-2 in Joe Steele
When Soviet leader Leon Trotsky arrived in Wakamatsu to confer with U.S. President Joe Steele, he flew into the town on an aircraft that resembled a DC-3 but had a dorsal machine-gun turret. Charlie Sullivan figured it must have been based on the Douglas workhorse.