Flying Tank

Antonov's A-40 Krylya Tanka (Russian: www. antonov.com/en.ch) was a Soviets experiment in sliding a tank onto a field of battle after it was dragged up by an aircraft to assist landing air troops or guerrillas. Rather than load lightweight armour onto sailplanes, as other countries had done, the Soviets had lashed T-27 armour under heavier aircraft and ended up at aprons.

During the 1930' there were experiments to build chute storage tank or just throw them into the sea. When Bessarabia was occupied in 1940, TB-3 fighters might have launched lightweight armoured vehicles from a height of several metres, which enabled them to taxi as far as they could while the transmission was idling.

In the case of crashing cars, the main concern is that their crew may fall apart and delay or be hindered from taking their actions. Sailplanes enable the crew to enter the take-off area with their vessels. It also minimizes the exposition of precious tow planes that do not have to appear above the battleground.

The Soviet Air Force commissioned Oleg Antonov to construct a paraglider for a tank. Rather than build a paraglider, he added a removable mount to a T-60 lightweight tank that contained large wooden and cloth double-decker blades and a double cock. A tank like this could slide into the battleground, dropping its wing and being combatable within a few moments.

Hamilcar General Aircraft, a former army paraglider that could carry lightweight shells. The Messerschmitt Me 321 and Junkers Ju 322, sailplanes made in Germany for picking up lightweight armoured cars. T-80, T-84 and Mil Mi-24 were also called Flying Tank, the first two because of their high speeds for a ground craft, the latter because of their high loading capacity for an aircraft.

Second World War Soviet armoured and combat vehicles. Airborne armour guarding its wings by Lew Holt in modern mechanics and inventions, July 1932.