Antonov A-40

A-40 Krylya Tanka
	Designer's model of the Antonov A-40
Role	Glider
Manufacturer	Antonov
Designer	Oleg Antonov
First flight	1942
Status	Cancelled
Primary user	Soviet Air Force
Number built	1
Developed from	T-60 tank

The Antonov A-40 Krylya Tanka (Russian: крылья танка, meaning "tank wings") 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.^[1] A prototype was built and tested in 1942, but was found to be unworkable. This vehicle is sometimes called the A-40T or KT.

Design and development

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 the 1940 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 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 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 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 pilot Sergei 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]

Specifications

Data from The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875–1995^[2]

General characteristics

Crew: Two
Capacity: 1 × T-60 tank
Length: 12.06 m (39 ft 6.75 in)
Wingspan: 18.00 m (59 ft 0.75 in)
Wing area: 85.8 m² (923.5 sq ft)
Empty weight: 2,004 kg (4,418 lb)
Gross weight: 7,804 kg (17,205 lb)

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b Winchester 2005, p. 62
^ Gunston 1995, p. 20

Bibliography

Gunston, Bill (1995). The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875–1995. London: Osprey. pp. 19–20. ISBN 1-85532-405-9.
Kotelnikov, Viktor (2015). "Russia's Real Flying Tanks". The Aviation Historian (13): 124–129. ISSN 2051-1930.
Shavrov, V. (1997). "Istoriya konstruktsiy samoletov v SSSR". Bronekollektsiya (4).
Winchester, Jim (2005). The World's Worst Aircraft: From Pioneering Failures to Multimillion Dollar Disasters. Barnes & Noble Books. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-7607-6742-9.
Zaloga, Steven J.; James Grandsen (1984). Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two. London: Arms and Armour Press. pp. 192–3. ISBN 0-85368-606-8.

External links

T-60 modifications Archived 2016-01-11 at the Wayback Machine at battlefield.ru
Antonov KT flying tank at unrealaircraft.com
KT-40 flying tank at the Russian Aviation Page
Krylja Tanka, illustrated page in Lithuanian
Flying Tanks that Shed Their Wings by Lew Holt in Modern Mechanics and Inventions, July 1932.

[Winchester2005-1] Winchester 2005, p. 62

[Gunston_Russianp20-2] Gunston 1995, p. 20

[1]

[2]

v t e Antonov aircraft
Airliners	An-10 An-24 An-28 An-74 An-140 An-148 An-158 An-180 An-218
Transports	OKA-38 An-2 An-3 An-4 An-8 An-12 An-14 An-22 An-26 An-32 An-38 An-50 An-70 An-72 An-74 An-112 An-124 An-132 An-170 An-178 An-188 An-225 An-325 AKS
Reconnaissance and surveillance	An-6 An-30 An-71 An-88
Experimental	An-13 E-153 SKV An-181 An-714
Gliders	A-1 A-2 A-7 A-9 A-10 A-11 A-13 A-15 A-40
Microlights	T-2M