KT Winged tank 1942

Bill Medland · Post by **Bill Medland** » 17 Oct 2002 12:50

Anyone seen any pics of this before? The Soviets fitted wooden wings to several light tanks in 1942. It worked very well with the tank gliding down to the ground without mishap and the wings and tail then being discarded. Designed to support Para drops, it never went into production due to a shortage of towing aircraft. Might be good to include in a "what if" wargame though?
Regards,Bill.

Siegfried Wilhelm · Post by **Siegfried Wilhelm** » 17 Oct 2002 17:32

Does such a thing work?

Oleg Grigoryev · Post by **Oleg Grigoryev** » 17 Oct 2002 20:46

Logan Hartke · Post by **Logan Hartke** » 18 Oct 2002 00:12

In autumn 1941, Soviet engineer O.K. Antonov offered to develop a simplified glider with a hull taken from the production T-60.

The glider was intended for transport by the four-engined TB-3 bomber or by the twin-engined DB-3F bomber. After landing, this vehicle had to drop its wings and empennage (tail) and thus, be ready for immediate combat.

Antonov's project was supported by General S.A. Afonin (Director of the General Tank Directorate), and at the end of 1941, Antonov's Design Bureau received an official order to develop this vehicle. The project was completed in only three weeks and by the summer of 1942, the very first experimental tank was manufactured in the glider factory in Tiumen. This tank received the "KT" index which meant "Kryl'ya tanka" (Tank's Wings). Please notice, that "Krylatyj Tank" (Winged Tank) is a wrong name, but still in use by some sources. Several other sources use the designations "A-T", "AT-1" or "glider A-40."

The wingspan of the KT was 18 metres, and the length was 12.06 metres. The tail was managed by a driver through special hawsers. The tank was lightened (weight decreased to 5800 kg!) by removing armament, ammunition, headlights, and was left only a very limited amount of fuel. The final flight weight of the KT was 7804 kg. A test flight was performed in the autumn of 1942. The KT was transported by the TB-3 bomber. S. Nanokhin was the driver of the KT, and he reported that idea of the flying tank was quite realistic and could be successful. However, because of the poor aerodynamics of the KT, the transportation of the tank was a huge strain on the TB-3, its engines overheated, and to avoid crashing, the KT was ditched in an emergency.

However, the KT glided very smoothly and successfully landed on a rough field near the Ramenskij Airfield. After landing, the wings and tail were dropped, and it successfully returned to its base at Monino. But because of a lack of sufficiently powerful airplanes, further work on the KT were cancelled and never resumed.

http://www.battlefield.ru/t60_2.html

Logan Hartke

Ando · Post by **Ando** » 18 Oct 2002 02:07

You would have to be a pretty crazy test pilot to fly one of them, I guess they all were anyway.

Phil D. · Post by **Phil D.** » 19 Oct 2002 18:39

Pretty odd looking, but nothing compared to this!

http://www.strange-mecha.com/vehicle/track/R-FT.htm

Phil

RCR_Raider · Post by **RCR_Raider** » 10 Nov 2002 02:00

thats a joke right?

right?

Cantankerous · Post by **Cantankerous** » 14 Feb 2023 02:40

RCR_Raider wrote: ↑
10 Nov 2002 02:00
thats a joke right?

right?

This thread may be more than 20 years old, but I found photographs of the Antonov KT at these weblinks:
http://fly.historicwings.com/2012/09/fl ... nks-oh-my/
https://modelingmadness.com/review/alli ... 0photo.jpg

Axis History Forum

KT Winged tank 1942

KT Winged tank 1942

Re: Antonov KT (A-40)