The first edition of the renminbi was released in the 1950s, and there were also denominations that year, and the front of the two-cent note had an airplane, which was a double-engine piston transport aircraft from the Soviet Union. The Chinese Air Force and civil aviation have introduced a number of aircraft, code-named "No. 14 aircraft", the Soviet Union was very powerful to directly transfer the engine and aircraft manufacturing rights, as a second-hand transfer from the United States after the transfer of China did not correspond to imitation.
Li-2 transport aircraft
For a long time, the Soviet aviation industry was quite developed, and it was comparable to the United States on a global scale, but in the 1930s and 40s the gap between the two sides was still relatively large. In the 1930s, the American Douglas Company built the DC-3 on the basis of the DC-2 transport aircraft, and on the eve of World War II, it became the main aircraft of the world's major airlines. Due to the low cost of dc-3 performance and easy maintenance, it was used by the military as the main transport aircraft (military number C-47) during World War II, and the main force on the hump route was the aircraft.
DC-3 transport aircraft
DC-3 transport aircraft (Hump route)
Mainly because the cost performance is too good, the Soviet Union began to buy 18 DC-3 passenger aircraft in batches from 1936, of which 2 belonged to the decomposition state (used to assemble and learn technology by themselves). During this period, the relationship between the two sides was not bad at randomly purchasing manufacturing rights, and at the same time, they sent technicians to the United States for nearly two years, and finally in 1941 the Soviet Union was able to produce its own DC-3 and the production capacity increased rapidly. Considering the need for mass localization, the Soviet Union modified its structure and replaced it with engines, and the earliest production batch was the passenger model called ПС-84 (later changed to Li-2).
There are many improved versions of the platform, including passenger aircraft, cargo, and armed types, and due to the serious shortage of medium bombers in the Soviet Union, the Li-2VV bomber was improved, and its production was also the largest. The bombs were built into the cargo hold or hung in the belly of the aircraft, could carry 4 250 kg bombs or 12 uncontrolled rockets (the crew could drop bombs with their bare hands), and became the soviet union's best passenger and cargo transportation and paratrooper special aircraft from World War II to the 1950s. The fuselage adopts all-metal semi-hard shell structure, the rear three-point front main landing gear, the maximum range is 2500 kilometers, the practical ceiling is 5600 meters, the crew is 5 people, and it can carry 14 passengers.
Li-2VV bomber
After introducing the historical sources of the Li-2, China introduced various types of aircraft from the Soviet Union in batches in the early 1950s, and fighters became the priority target for purchase in the face of homeland air defense pressure and the need for a peninsula war. However, compared with this type of aircraft, the introduction time of the Li-2 was earlier, and at the end of 1949, China imported 2 Li-2 transport aircraft from Manzhouli by land for the first time.
Three views of the Li-2 transport aircraft
In March 1950, the Sino-Soviet Civil Aviation Co., Ltd. established a fully equipped Li-2 aircraft, expanding from the earliest 14 to 16 a year later (including 8 passenger and cargo models). In addition, the young Chinese civil aviation also began to use the aircraft, importing 4 in 1951, and in November of the same year, the Soviet Air Force Advisory Group handed over 20 to the Chinese Air Force. Before and after the purchase of the introduction plus the transfer of the Soviet Union in active service, by 1957, the Chinese Air Force and civil aviation had obtained a total of 41 Li-2 passenger and cargo aircraft. With excellent performance, it became the main model of China's military and civilian airlift in the 1950s, and also played well as an aerial survey aircraft equipped with an aerial survey brigade.
The Li-2 was supposed to be the earliest aircraft used by the Plaksmen in actual combat, and in October 1949, in order to quickly transport the Northwest Field Army to Xinjiang. The Soviet Airlift Force 41 Ri-2 and the Civil Aviation Brigade 6 Li-2 came to China and performed tasks such as assisting in the airlift of Army troops and supplies, effectively supporting the grand strategy of marching northwest (469 sorties). It is precisely with this experience that the subsequent purchase and reception of dozens of Li-2s formed a transport fleet, equipped with the 13th and 34th Air Force Divisions and the transport regiments of various military regions, and played an important role in entering Sichuan,Tibet and Qinghai-Tibet.
Subsequently, the Li-2 was widely used in civil aviation, and gradually retired from the 1980s, and the Li-2 was also used for aerial photography and aerial prospecting in addition to civil aviation transportation. However, these decommissioned models have not yet completed their mission, because they were still used as trainers, aerial survey aircraft or freighters, and were not actually retired until 1990. Interestingly, although the aircraft was equipped for a long time, and the Soviet Union had already transferred the manufacturing license (including the engine) to us in 1950, in fact we only bought but never copied it, perhaps the blood is too complicated and the introduction of the later stronger performance of the Il-12 has become history.