Shcherbakov - Shche-2 - the USSR transport plane

In order to meet the needs of Red Army in the field of transport aircraft, the payload of which would be greater, than the Po-2, used for these purposes up to that time, the design bureau, led by Alexander Shcherbakov, built the TS-1 transport aircraft. It was a high-wing monoplane of wooden construction with a twin tail and two-wheeled fixed landing gear, spacious fuselage, powered by two 145 h. p. power engines M-100E. In a short time the plane was renamed Shche-2 according to the rules in force at that time. The first prototype was ready for flight in February 1942. In August 1943, after making some changes and some improvements, serial production of these planes was started. 750 machines of several modifications of this brand were produced. It was an unusual plane. Two Po-2 planes, equipped with the same engines, could lift 6 people into the air, while Shche-2 with the same engines could carry 14 passengers and two pilots. The aircraft was ideally suited for operation from unsuitable outdoor airfields. Due to the large area of ​​the wings, its landing path (run-off) was only 160 m, and 275 m of acceleration was enough for takeoff. In addition, if one engine failed, the plane could continue the flight with one engine working. Due to the specially reinforced construction of the floor of the transport compartment, the machine was adapted for the transportation of heavy aviation engines to units on the front line, which significantly shortened the time for repairing aircraft and allowed maintaining a high level of combat readiness of aviation units. Shche-2 was actively used to supply partisan units, was used as a medical plane to transport 11 wounded on stretchers, and was used to train paratroopers and bomber pilots.

From the details of the publication a model of the plane, used by the Polish Army Ludowa in 1945, can be glued together. The model is intended for gluing in 3 variants of complexity: experienced modelers can choose one of three levels of engine detailing, detailing not only the cockpit, but also the transport compartment, control planes are given separately from the main planes. A complex but kind of fun model for intermediate to advanced modelers.