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Soviet Military Plane Crashed on Delivery Mission in Bad Weather and Has Been Abandoned for Over 50 Years on Big Diomede Island, Near Alaska.
A Soviet World War II military plane has been abandoned since 1971 on Big Diomede Island, located in the far east of Russia, a few kilometers from Alaska.
The presence of the aircraft was discovered by internet users years ago through Google Maps images.
Remote Island Full of History
Big Diomede Island, also known as Ratmanov Island, is over six thousand kilometers from Moscow. For millennia, it has been inhabited by Eskimos. The Russian explorer Semyon Dezhnyov discovered it in 1648. After the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867, the island became the border marker between the two countries.
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During World War II, the Red Army established a military base on the island. After the war, the last Eskimos were removed. Since then, only soldiers and scientists occupy the region, which also hosts a weather station.
Unusual Discovery via Google Maps
It was through Google Maps that a user noticed the silhouette of an abandoned plane on the island’s rugged terrain.
The image resembled a Douglas C-47 Skytrain, an aircraft used by the United States during the war. However, a Russian radio operator clarified in 2011 that it was a Lisunov Li-2T, a model made in the Soviet Union based on the American DC-3.
The 1971 Accident
On June 13, 1971, a Sunday, the plane flew to Big Diomede Island to deliver mail to the Soviet detachment. The weather was bad, and without a runway to land, the crew dropped the packages with a small parachute. After radio contact with the military at the base, the aircraft continued its journey.
However, 45 minutes later, an alert indicated that the plane had not returned. A search operation was initiated. The Li-2 had collided with the island’s terrain while attempting to navigate around it. Despite the fog and the crash, all four crew members survived with injuries. The plane sustained damage that prevented it from flying again.
Unable to be repaired, the aircraft was abandoned on site. Since then, it has remained there, enduring the elements and extreme weather of the island.
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