"The Zveno Carriers" Topic
9 Posts
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| Tango01 | 26 Dec 2013 10:08 p.m. PST |
"The Soviet Union was the first military power to successfully employ a flying aircraft carrier in wartime. Stalin's Zveno project, which began in 1931, involved gigantic Russian bombers like the Tupolev TB-1 and TB-3 being retrofitted to carry between two and six pint-sized Polikarpov I-16 fighter bombers. The smaller planes were hooked onto the bomber either on top of or below its vast wings. As the carrier took off, the docked fighters would gun their engines to help the fully laden craft get airborne. Once aloft, the smaller planes were able to unhook and intercept enemy fighters or fly their own strike missions. In some tests, the planes managed fly free and later successfully reconnect to the bomber in mid-air. The Soviet military saw the Zveno project as a way to extend the reach of its short-range fighter aircraft. The flying carriers saw action in the opening stages of the Soviet war against Nazi Germany. On July 26, 1941, a TB-3 carried a pair of I-16 fighter bombers to within 40 km of an Axis oil depot in Romania. The smaller aircraft decoupled from the bomber and successfully dive-bombed the enemy facility. The I-16s then landed safely at a Soviet airfield. Zveno carriers eventually conducted 30 raids against enemy targets before both the TB-3 and Polikarpov were retired from service in 1942…"
Full article (with other items) here.
link Hope you enjoy!. Amicalement
Armand |
| LostPict | 27 Dec 2013 5:35 a.m. PST |
That is really something. I have been seeing the US Navy's newest blimp operating around Baltimore this fall. All this stuff reminds me of the "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" movie. Lost Pict |
| Tango01 | 27 Dec 2013 10:38 a.m. PST |
Glad you enjoyed it my friend!. (smile). Amicalement
Armand |
| napthyme | 27 Dec 2013 4:53 p.m. PST |
now this is the stuff I enjoy reading about WWII. Anything weird or oddball that either did or did not work. Anyone can write about Panzers and Shermans. |
| jgibbons | 27 Dec 2013 6:07 p.m. PST |
Thats the first i have ever heard o f that…. Thanks, |
| Tango01 | 27 Dec 2013 11:01 p.m. PST |
Happy you like the article boys!. (smile). Amicalement
Armand |
| CampyF | 28 Dec 2013 6:30 p.m. PST |
I'd heard of these, but didn't know they were used so many times. Must catch up on my reading. Too much to do, so little time. |
 20thmaine  | 28 Dec 2013 7:20 p.m. PST |
Meanwhile in America it was fighters hooked onto airships ! I love this stuff – want a really weird WWII ? Just start it 5 years earlier and watch tin cans battle it out with underpowered biplanes roaring overhead! |
Puster  | 29 Dec 2013 6:27 a.m. PST |
An interesting, probably unique, facet of aviation history. Wikipedia gives us a bit more on their operational history:
link Reading parts of this, like "four Zveno-launched I-16s engaged several Messerschmitt Bf 109s, shooting down two" makes one wonder how accurate the reports are, however. |
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looks at a multi-period building.