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| A-40 Krylya Tanka | |
|---|---|
 Designer's model of the Antonov A-40 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Glider |
| Manufacturer | Antonov |
| Designer | |
| Status | Cancelled |
| Primary user | Soviet Air Force |
| Number built | 1 |
| History | |
| First flight | 1942 |
| Developed from | T-60 tank |
TheAntonov A-40Krylya Tanka (Russian:крылья танка, meaning "tank wings") was aSoviet attempt to allow atank to glide onto a battlefield after being towed aloft by an airplane, to support airborne forces orpartisans.[1] A prototype was built and tested in 1942, but was found to be unworkable. This vehicle is sometimes called theA-40T orKT.
Instead of loadinglight tanks ontogliders, as other nations had done, Sovietairborne forces had strappedT-27tankettes underneath heavy bombers and landed them on airfields. In the 1930s, there were experimental efforts toparachute tanks or simply drop them into water. During the1940 occupation of Bessarabia, light tanks may have been dropped from a few meters up byTB-3 bombers, which, as long as thegearbox was in neutral, would allow them to roll to a stop.
The biggest problem with air-dropping vehicles is if their crews are dropped separately, they may be delayed or prevented from bringing them into action. Gliders allow crews to arrive at the drop/landing zone along with their vehicles. They also minimize exposure of the valuable towing aircraft, which need not appear over the battlefield. So theSoviet Air Force orderedOleg Antonov to design a glider for landing tanks.
Antonov was more ambitious. Instead of building a glider, he added a detachable cradle to aT-60 light tank bearing large wood and fabricbiplane wings and atwin 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 aPetlyakov Pe-8 or aTupolev 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 these 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 pilotSergei Anokhin. The T-60 landed in a field near the airport, 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.[1]
Data from The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875–1995[2]
General characteristics
