The Antonov A-40 was a Soviet attempt to allow a tank to glide onto a battlefield after being towed aloft by
an airplane, to support airborne forces or partisans. A prototype was built and tested in 1942, but
was found to be unworkable. Instead of loading light
tanks onto gliders, as other nations had done, Soviet airborne forces had strapped T-27 tankettes underneath heavy bombers and landed them on
airfields. In the 1930s there were experimental efforts to parachute tanks or simply drop them into water. During
the1940 occupation of Bessarabia, light tanks may have been dropped from a few
meters up by TB-3 bombers, which as long as the gearbox was
in neutral, would allow them to roll to a stop.
The biggest
problem with air-dropping vehicles is that their crews drop separately, and may
be delayed or prevented from bringing them into action. Gliders allow crews to
arrive at the drop zone along with their vehicles. They also minimize exposure
of the valuable towing aircraft, which need not appear over the battlefield. So
the Soviet Air Force ordered Oleg
Antonov to design a glider for landing
tanks. Antonov was more ambitious. Instead of building a glider, he added a
detachable cradle to a T-60 light tank
bearing large wood and fabric biplane wings and a twin tail. Such a tank could glide into the
battlefield, drop its wings, and be ready to fight within minutes.
One T-60 was
converted into a glider in 1942, intended to be towed by a Petlyakov Pe-8 or a Tupolev
TB-3. The tank was lightened for air use by removing its armament, ammunition
and headlights, and leaving a very limited amount of fuel. Even with the
modifications, the TB-3 bomber had to ditch the glider during its only flight,
on September 2, 1942, to avoid crashing, due to the T-60's extreme drag
(although the tank reportedly glided smoothly). The A-40 was piloted by the
famous Soviet experimental glider pilot Sergei
Anokhin.
Sergei Anokhin, test pilot (1910-1986)
The T-60 landed in a field near the airdrome, and after dropping the
glider wings and tail, the driver returned it to its base. Due to the lack of a
sufficiently-powerful aircraft to tow it at the required 160 km/h (99 mph), the
project was abandoned.
You may
found more about A-40 in following books:
1. Gunston, Bill (1995). The Osprey Encyclopedia of
Russian Aircraft 1875–1995. London: Osprey.
2. Zaloga, Steven J.; James Grandsen (1984). Soviet Tanks and
Combat Vehicles of World War Two. London:
Arms and Armour Press.
0 comments:
Post a Comment