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30-658: Big Diomede Island is located about 45 km (28 mi) southeast of Cape Dezhnev on the Chukchi Peninsula and is Russia's easternmost point by direction of travel. It is west of the International Date Line , although in the western hemisphere by longitude. The coordinates are 65°46′52″N 169°03′25″W  /  65.78111°N 169.05694°W  / 65.78111; -169.05694 . The rocky tuya -type island has an area of about 29 km (11 sq mi) The International Date Line

60-553: A rufous hummingbird was identified on the island. This finding, unique so far in Russia, was very likely due to a dispersed specimen. For mammals, pinnipeds (e.g. ringed and bearded seals , walruses ) and cetaceans (e.g. gray and rarer bowhead whales ) inhabit the waters around the island. Cape Dezhnev Cape Dezhnyov or Cape Dezhnev ( Russian : мыс Дежнёва ; Eskimo–Aleut : Tugnehalha ; Inupiaq : Nuuġaq ), formerly known as East Cape or Cape Vostochny ,

90-685: A base of Border Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation troops (FSB). During the Cold War, the section of the border between the U.S. and the USSR separating Big and Little Diomede became known as the " Ice Curtain ". On 7 August 1987, however, Lynne Cox , an American long-distance swimmer, swam from Little Diomede to Big Diomede (approximately 3.5 km or 2.2 mi) in ice-cold waters. She

120-604: Is a cape that forms the easternmost mainland point of Asia . It is located on the Chukchi Peninsula in the very sparsely populated Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia . This cape is located between the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Strait , 82 kilometres (51 mi) across from Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska ; the Bering Strait is delimited by the two capes. The Diomede Islands and Fairway Rock are located in

150-444: Is about 1.3 km (0.81 mi) east of the island. The highest point of the island is Krysha peak standing 505 m tall. There is a weather station on the north coast at 65°48′50″N 169°02′5″W  /  65.81389°N 169.03472°W  / 65.81389; -169.03472 . There is a helipad at 65°48′36″N 169°01′46″W  /  65.81000°N 169.02944°W  / 65.81000; -169.02944 . The island

180-667: The Central Siberian Yupik language continued up the coast, un-interrupted by the Naukansky dialect spoken in the village of Naukan on the headland. The Great Circle distance from Cape Dezhnev to the shore of the Bab-el-Mandeb strait in Yemen is about 10,855 kilometres (6,745 mi), which is the longest land distance of Asia . The Cape Dezhnev peninsula, (or East Cape, as it was then generally called)

210-808: The 1960s. The last survivors in use were noted in China and Vietnam during the 1980s. There were many versions, including airliner, cargo, military transport, reconnaissance, aerial photography, parachute drop, bomber and high altitude variants. In Poland they were fitted for cropdusting against forest pests. The Li-2 also saw extensive service in the Chinese Air Force in the 1940s and 1950s. Several airlines operated Lisunov Li-2s, among others Aeroflot , CAAK , CSA , LOT , MALÉV , Polar Aviation, TABSO and Tarom . Only one Li-2 restored to airworthy condition exists in Europe. The Hungarian registered HA-LIX

240-571: The Li-2 also had bombing equipment—such as bomb sight and bomb racks, and defensive turret, unlike the military C-47 development of the DC-3, which was strictly an unarmed military transport. The defensive armaments consisted of MV-3 dorsal turret with a 7.62 mm (.30 in) ShKAS machine gun, later replaced with a 12.7 mm (.50 in) UBT heavy machine gun. Additionally two ShKAS machine guns on pivot mount could also be mounted on both sides of

270-634: The Russian geodesist Mikhail Gvozdev plotted the island's map. In 1867, during the Alaska Purchase , the new border between the nations was drawn between the Big Diomede and Little Diomede islands. During World War II , Big Diomede became a military base, and remained so for some time into the Cold War . After World War II, the native population was forced off Big Diomede Island to

300-653: The Soviet Union in 1941 many of the PS-84s were taken into military use and redesignated the Lisunov Li-2 in 1942. The military models were equipped with a machine gun on dorsal turret. The aircraft were used for transport, partisan supply, bombing, and as ambulance aircraft. A total of 4,937 aircraft were produced of all Li-2 variants between 1940 and 1954 and it saw extensive use in Eastern Europe until

330-478: The Yupik village Naukan on the southeast shore of the cape, which had less trade because it lacked a good anchorage. Sources from that period sometimes speak of a village Emma-Town. Although this name may be derived from the nearby Yupik village Enmitahin (Chukchi for "end of the cliff") the name appears to refer to Keniskun (where the traders were) or perhaps to both villages together. Of the four historical villages on

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360-456: The basic design, the GAZ-84 works had to make some 1,293 engineering change orders to the original Douglas drawings, involving part design, dimensions, materials and processes, most as a part of metrication of the design from U.S. customary units to suit Soviet standards, no small task for Vladimir Myasishchev to accomplish. The well-established Shvetsov OKB-19 design bureau, responsible for

390-729: The book's accuracy. For example, at the time of the escape described, no Cape Dezhnev Gulag camp lead mine existed. Lisunov Li-2 The Lisunov Li-2 (NATO reporting name: Cab ), originally designated PS-84 , was a license-built Soviet-version of the Douglas DC-3 . It was produced by Factory #84 in Moscow-Khimki and, after the factory's evacuation in 1941, at the Tashkent Aviation Production Association in Tashkent . The project

420-464: The cape itself, only Uelen is still inhabited. Naukan was evacuated in 1958 with most of the occupants relocated to Nunyamo near Saint Lawrence Bay, Chukotka , and Keniskun was merged with Uelen a little earlier. In Josef Bauer's As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me (1955), Cape Deshnev is given as the site of a Gulag lead-mine camp from which a German POW Clemens Forell (actual name: Cornelius Rost ) escaped in 1949. Later research cast serious doubt on

450-578: The design. One of the engineers who accompanied him to Douglas was Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev . Design work and production were undertaken at State Aviation Factory 84 in Khimki (now a suburb of Moscow). The Soviet version was given the designation PS-84 – Passazhirskiy Samolyot 84, passenger airplane 84 (i.e. made in GAZ/State Aircraft Plant No. 84). Despite the original intention to incorporate as few changes as necessary to

480-678: The great bulk of the Soviets' air-cooled radial aviation powerplant designs of the 1930-40s, used their Shvetsov ASh-62 IR radial engines, a Soviet development of the nine-cylinder Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 , to power the PS-84. The same Wright Aeronautical Cyclone 9 radial also powered the earliest Douglas DST "Sleeper Transport" versions, and initial 21-passenger versions, of the original American DC-3 airliner. The Soviet standard design practice usually mandated fully shuttered engines in order to cope with temperature extremes. A slightly shorter span

510-421: The highest peak at 2,638 feet (804 m). The headland and the neck of low-lying land together form a peninsula . A well-established trail crossed the neck of land behind the headland in pre-historic and historic times, traversed by sleds in the winter and used as a portage in the summer to avoid traversing the strait. This route was important enough that, according to an analysis by linguist Michael Krauss ,

540-657: The invasion, the Kremlin set in motion a plan to relocate much of the industrial capability of the Soviet Union to the East, with production of the Li-2 ending up at GAZ-33 in Tashkent , now the capital of Uzbekistan . After a monumental struggle, the factory was producing PS-84s again by January 1942. GAZ-124 at Kazan also built ten aircraft before the start of World War II, and 353 Li-2Ts were built by GAZ-126 at Komsomolsk-on-Amur between 1946 and 1950, before that plant switched to MiG-15 production. Some military versions of

570-470: The mainland in order to avoid contacts across the border. They first moved to the Yupik village of Naukan That village was evicted between 1954 and 1958, so residents were relocated elsewhere. In 2015, an attempt was made to reunite people from the two islands. Today, unlike Alaska's neighboring Little Diomede Island , it has no permanent native population, but it is the site of a Russian weather station and

600-1014: The meeting was between our people and the Americans when she stepped onto the Soviet shore. She proved by her courage how close to each other our peoples live". On 13 June 1971 a Lisunov Li-2 belonging to the Soviet Border Troops crashed in the centre of the island. All crew members were injured but survived and the green hull remains at 65°46′42″N 169°04′00″W  /  65.7783°N 169.0666°W  / 65.7783; -169.0666 . Eleven species of birds including such as puffins and guillemots have been found on Big Diomede. The island, along with its surrounding waters, has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because of its significant seabird colonies , including those of horned puffins , and of parakeet , least and crested auklets . In 1976

630-460: The midst of the strait. In 1898, the cape was officially renamed as Cape Dezhnev, replacing Captain James Cook 's name, the "East Cape". It was named in honor of Semyon Dezhnev , the first recorded European to round its tip (in 1648). There is a large monument to Dezhnev on the seacoast . The cape is the eastern tip of a high, rocky headland, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Uelen in

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660-488: The north to Cape Pe'ek in the south, connected to the mainland by a neck of lower-lying land peppered with swamps and shallow lakes. That low-lying land is so low in elevation that the cape appears as an island from a distance far to the south of it. The US Hydrographic Office publication Asiatic Pilot from 1909 gives the height of the headland as 2,521 feet (768 m), and the US Office of Coast Survey chart of 2000 shows

690-456: The rear fuselage near the cargo door. A version designated Li-2VV ( Voyenny Variant = military variant) had a redesigned nose for extra ShKAS machine gun and could carry up to four 250 kg (551 lb) bombs under the central fuselage. Smaller bombs could be carried inside the fuselage and thrown out of the cargo door by the crew. The PS-84 had flown with Aeroflot primarily as a passenger transport before World War II. When Germany attacked

720-518: Was a center for trade between American (and other) whalers and the fur traders and the native Yupik and Chukchi people of the coast in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the early years, ships would call at Uelen to trade for furs produced along the arctic coast. Subsequently, there were established trading stations at Uelen and Deshnevo (Chukchi name Keniskun; Yupik Kaniskak). When a source of that period speaks of stopping or trading at East Cape, either of these locations may be meant, or occasionally

750-591: Was built in 1949 in Airframe Factory Nr.84 (GAZ-84) of Tashkent, as serial number 18433209 and was operated by MALÉV till 1964. It was withdrawn to a museum in 1974 as an airforce parachute trainer airplane. After a complete reconstruction finished in 2001 it flies sightseeing tours and regularly participates at air shows. It is operated by the Goldtimer Foundation, based at Budaörs Airport , Budapest , Hungary . The North Korean Air Force

780-578: Was congratulated jointly by Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan four months later at the signing of the INF Missile Treaty at the White House , when Gorbachev made a toast. He and President Reagan lifted their glasses and Gorbachev said: "Last summer it took one brave American by the name of Lynne Cox just two hours to swim from one of our countries to the other. We saw on television how sincere and friendly

810-549: Was different and the various steel substructures such as engine mounts and landing gear, wheels, and tires were also quite different from the original design. Later modifications allowed the provision of ski landing gear in order to operate in remote and Arctic regions. The first PS-84s had begun to emerge from the GAZ-84 production line by 1939. By the time Germany invaded the USSR on 22 June 1941 , 237 PS-84s had been built at GAZ-84, all in civil passenger configuration. In response to

840-536: Was directed by aeronautical engineer Boris Pavlovich Lisunov . The Soviet Union received its first DC-2 in 1935. A total of 18 DC-3s had been ordered on 11 April 1936, and the government of the USSR purchased 21 DC-3s for operation by Aeroflot before World War II . A production licence was awarded to the government of the USSR on 15 July 1936. Lisunov spent two years at the Douglas Aircraft Company , between November 1936 and April 1939 translating

870-486: Was incorporated, but many of the other alterations were less evident. The passenger door was moved to the right or starboard side of the fuselage, with a top-opening cargo door on the left or port side in place of the original passenger door. The structural reinforcement included slightly heavier skins, because the metric skin gauges were not exact equivalents of the American alloy sheet metal. Standard Soviet metric hardware

900-599: Was originally inhabited by Iñupiat . The First Alaskans Institute says: "The people of the Diomede and King Islands are Inupiat". The first European to reach the islands was the Russian explorer Semyon Dezhnyov in 1648. Vitus Bering landed on the Diomede Islands on August 16, 1728, the day on which the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of the martyr St. Diomede . In 1732,

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