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Antonov A-40

2,295 GrunderDynamics  1.7 years ago

Description copied from wikipedia: The Antonov A-40 Krylya Tanka (Russian: ?????? ?????, 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. 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 tank is not really done, I still have details, liveries and so on. This thing is quite fun to fly because I like to blow up the carrier fleet. PLEASE READ THIS
Because it is a work in progress it may encounter parts falling off randomly, doing a literall flip while landing, having the plane unable to takeoff from the ground, and so on.

Picture taken by me: (IMAGE NOT FOUND)

General Characteristics

  • Successors 1 airplane(s)
  • Created On iOS
  • Wingspan 71.9ft (21.9m)
  • Length 58.5ft (17.8m)
  • Height 18.4ft (5.6m)
  • Empty Weight 11,018lbs (4,997kg)
  • Loaded Weight 36,780lbs (16,683kg)

Performance

  • Power/Weight Ratio 0.091
  • Wing Loading 19.6lbs/ft2 (95.7kg/m2)
  • Wing Area 1,875.6ft2 (174.3m2)
  • Drag Points 11979

Parts

  • Number of Parts 88
  • Control Surfaces 12
  • Performance Cost 632