Tank Oddities – Part 2

 

Tank Oddities – Part 2

By Chief Mac – 27 June 2023

The previous article had a lot of water borne tanks, now we are going to look at a new medium – air.

Christie M1931

Want a tank that can leap over obstacles, or may small buildings? The Christie M1931, known as the Combat Car, T1 in US Cavalry use and Medium Tank, Convertible, T3 in Infantry branch, was a wheel-to-track tank designed by J. Walter Christie for the United States Army using Christie's ideas of an aero-engine and the novel Christie suspension to give high mobility.

The M1931 was Christie's first tank to be accepted for production by the US Army and was used briefly by experimental tank units. Christie's design had more influence in Europe, with the USSR and the UK developing Christie's ideas in the form of Bystrokhodny (fast) tanks and cruiser tanks respectively.

Light Tank Mk VII Tetrarch

Okay so the Christie didn’t get far enough into the air, let’s go higher. The Light Tank Mk VII (A17), also known as the Tetrarch, was a British light tank produced by Vickers-Armstrongs in the late 1930s and used during the Second World War. The Tetrarch was the latest in the line of light tanks built by the company for the British Army. It improved upon its predecessor, the Light Tank Mk VIC, by introducing the extra firepower of a 2-pounder gun.

In June 1942, Tetrarchs were attached to the 1st Airborne Division after it was decided that the design allowed its use as an air-portable light tank to support British airborne forces. The Tetrarchs were transported and landed in specially-designed General Aircraft Hamilcar gliders.

M22 Locust

America gets into the act. The M22 Locust, officially Light Tank (Airborne), M22, was an American-designed airborne light tank which was produced during World War II. The Locust began development in 1941 after the British War Office requested that the American government design a purpose-built airborne light tank which could be transported by glider into battle to support British airborne forces. The War Office had originally selected the Light Tank Mark VII Tetrarch light tank for use by the airborne forces, but it had not been designed with that exact purpose in mind so the War Office believed that a purpose-built tank would be required to replace it. The United States Army Ordnance Department was asked to produce this replacement, which in turn selected Marmon-Herrington to design and build a prototype airborne tank in May 1941. The prototype was designated the Light Tank T9 (Airborne), and was designed so that it could be transported underneath a Douglas C-54 Skymaster transport aircraft, although its dimensions also allowed it to fit inside a General Aircraft Hamilcar glider.

T92 Light Tank

The US kept trying to have an airborne tank. The T92 Light Tank, or 76-mm Gun Tank, T92, was an American light tank developed in the 1950s by Aircraft Armaments. It was designed as an airborne/airdropped replacement for the heavier M41 Walker Bulldog while retaining the mobility, protection level, and firepower of the latter. The unveiling of the Soviet PT-76 amphibious light tank pointed out that the future US light tank should be able to swim as well. Making the T92 amphibious was deemed impractical and the light gun tank program was cancelled in June 1958.

M551 Sheridan

Why keep in just the World War 2 era? The M551 "Sheridan" AR/AAV (Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle) was a light tank developed by the United States and named after General Philip Sheridan, of American Civil War fame. It was designed to be landed by parachute and to swim across rivers. It was armed with the technically advanced but troublesome M81/M81 Modified/M81E1 152 mm gun/launcher, which fired both conventional ammunition and the MGM-51 Shillelagh guided anti-tank missile.

The M551 Sheridan entered service with the United States Army in 1967. At the urging of General Creighton Abrams, the U.S. Commander, Military Assistance Command Vietnam, at the time, the M551 was rushed into combat service to South Vietnam in January 1969. Later that year, M551s were deployed to units in Europe and South Korea.

It was airdropped from cargo planes. Did I forget to mention it was also amphibious?

Special number 3 light tank Ku-Ro

Japan wasn’t going to left out of this craze. The Special number 3 light tank Ku-Ro (特三号戦車 クロ) (also known as the "So-Ra") was an experimental Japanese winged light tank project, developed during World War II.

In the Fall of 1943, the Imperial Japanese Army's Teishin Shudan formed the 1st Glider Tank Troop. Before the 1st Glider Troop was established, the only heavy support available to Japan's airborne infantry was provided by the Kokusai Ku-8. This military glider was able to transport the Type 94 and Type 94 75 mm mountain guns, but these infantry support guns lacked the mobility and anti-tank capabilities required by Japan's paratroopers. The solution to this problem was to develop a glider-portable light tank, but the existing Ku-8 glider was not capable of supporting the weight of a vehicle as large as a tank. So in 1943 and into 1944 the Armored Army Headquarters (army aviation headquarters) and the Fourth Army Institute of Technology collaborated on a new concept to fill this role, a flying tank. A small tank that could be towed on a glider by a powered aircraft and then released and glide down to the battlefield along with paratroopers. The tank would detach its wings after landing and then be able to provide armor support to the infantry. Rather than using an existing tank or glider design, it was decided that a new tank and new glider should be developed. Work on developing the glider was given to Maeda Iron Works Company, while designing and building of the prototype was given to Mitsubishi.

Baynes Bat

The Baynes Bat was an experimental glider of the Second World War, designed by L.E. Baynes. It was used to test the tailless design that he had suggested as a means to convert tanks into temporary gliders so they could be flown into battle.

In the late 1930s, armies were looking for a way to airlift heavy military units. There were then no cargo aircraft big enough to lift a tank, and even if such a large aircraft had been created it would have needed many special facilities. A solution which was explored during the Second World War was to tow tanks as gliders, and for this wings had to be added. Most designs were based on straight wings with extended empennage and stabilizers. The design of L.E. Baynes in 1941 was for a 100 ft wing-span "Carrier Wing Glider" consisting chiefly of a swept wing with vertical stabilizers on the wing-tips.

A one-third scale prototype was built entirely of wood in 1943 by Slingsby Sailplanes at Kirkbymoorside, and the Baynes Bat made its first flight in July 1943 at the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment at Sherburn-in-Elmet, Yorkshire. Most of the test flights were piloted by Flight Lieutenant Robert Kronfeld.

 

Tests were successful, but the project was abandoned because a suitable tank was not then available and a decision had been made to develop gliders which could carry heavy equipment within their fuselages. The strategists were not convinced of the practicality of retrieving large numbers of Baynes Bats from the field, but in wartime this was not a critical factor.

MAS-1

MAS-1 was earmarked to become the first Soviet tank, which not only traveled on land, but also flew. Based on the BT-7 cavalry tank, MAS-1’s design had a sleek hull with folding wings and a propeller.

This flying tank was meant to be armed with several machineguns. The crew consisted of the driver and tank commander, who was also the shooter and radio operator.

The project, however, was too ambitious and expensive, and was cancelled in 1937.

Antanov A-40

During WWII the flying tank concept was given a second chance. A-40’s blueprints look like a hybrid between the Soviet T-60 scout tank and a glider.

A Tupolev TB-3 heavy bomber aircraft was needed to tow this flying tank into the sky before unhooking it 20-25 km from its intended destination point. After landing the machine’s wings were meant to detach and it could start engaging the enemy.

However, trials for this new Soviet weapon failed. The TB-3 wasn’t able to raise the flying tank higher than an altitude of 40 meters, even after its weight was reduced. Because no aircraft was powerful enough to tow the battle machine, the project was binned. 

By this time most countries have figured out that no matter how hard designers try and how much the military want to succeed - tanks just can't fly. Even the air dropped tanks are basically targets because they are too small, not enough armor and the weapons too weak to be effective. Only few countries have transports large enough to move their main battle tanks by air.

This page was compiled and posted by Chief Mac, 06/27/23