This old Forțele Aeriene Române (Romanian AF) Li-2 is now preserved as a restaurant in this nice town to the south-east of Timișoara. Also present were an Antonov 2 and a Socata Tampico.

This Li-2 carries 209 in the wheel bay and is believed to be ex-Romanian AF. It has been preserved in a garden in Faget for many years and has become something of a local tourist attraction.

This patchwork Li-2 is preserved in this small Hungarian town and was previously ex-HuAF '504' and ex-Malev HA-LIP.

This Li-2 was first registered in July 1953 and went on to fly with LOT before the reg. was cancelled in November 1968. It is now preserved in this small town to the east of Wrocław.

This Li-2 of the museum in Kbely is somewhat hidden from view. Parked behind a small building and the Tu104. But a museum employee had moved some fences to let a lorry unload. I took the oppertunity and managed this shot before being waved back. This side of the fuselage was painted in an RAF-look for film work, the opposite side was painted in CSA-look-a-like, for another film. The general state of the airframe is not too good. It has already been part of the museum for at least 50 years !

Flown by the Hungarian air force from 1951 until 1974, this derelict Li-2 is seen in use with the police for anti-terrorist training purposes. Scrapped in 1982. Photo from: Fortepan

Winter in Warsaw and Rwy 29 is in use for take-off. SP-LKG on the left; on the right appears to be SP-LAF. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

[Olympus PEN E-PL2 + M.Zuico 40-150mm]

Bort number no longer carried.

ex-Malev HA-LIP

The Li-2 (NATO reporting name 'Cab') was a licence-built version of the Douglas DC-3. It is often thought to be a straight Soviet reproduction but, in fact, there are over 1,200 changes documented from the Douglas engineering drawings. the most substantial was the use of the Russian Shvetsov ASh-62IR engines in place of the nine-cylinder Wright R-1820. This example is on display at the Central Museum of the Air Force at Monino.

Note the extra cockpit window in the Russian-built DC-3. In addition to building perhaps 5000 Li-2s, the Soviet Union received 700 C-47s during WWII. It also got 870 B-25s, one of which is seen in the background.