There was also the risk that enemy troops might get hold of the dropped supplies before the crew arrived.
Once in the air, the tank commander acted as the pilot.
A Christie tank being assembled.
A flock of flying tanks set loose on an enemy and any war is brought to an abrupt finish.
Similar concepts were being explored by other nations.
The buses disintegrated on landing, but the crew somehow survived, and so the idea was cancelled.
Next they tried strapping light-weight tanks like the T-37 and T-27 to the underside of heavy bombers.
The only known photo of the Antonov A-40.
The prototype was dubbedKrylya Tanka(literally, “winged tank”) and designated the A-40 KT.
For its test run, the tank was stripped off of nearly everything to reduce weight.
After the successful failure of the A-40 KT, the Russians dropped the idea of the glider tank.
Several Locusts were air-dropped by Hamilcar gliders to Allied troops fighting in Germany.
The Locusts were later replaced by the Tetrarch.
About twenty of these tanks were dropped as part of the British airborne landings in Normandy in June 1944.
Mk VII Light Tank ‘Tetrarch’.
Photo:Wikimedia Commons
M22 Locust light tank leaving a Hamilcar glider.
Here is a video of a C-17 releasing a couple of Humvees.
