"The Incredible Flying Tanks of WWII" Topic

"Given how devastatingly effective both newly-invented tank and airplane technologies proved during World War I, it was only a matter of time before enterprising military designers on both sides of the Atlantic thought to combine them into a flying Reece's Peanut Butter Cup of armored mayhem. And they almost succeeded. Well, at least the Soviets did.

In the 1930s, both the Americans and the Soviets realized the tactical advantages of being able to drop an armored division behind enemy lines where it could wreak havok on the enemy's soft spots like supply lines and command posts.

In America, tank developer Walter Christie designed a self propelled flying tank that employed a pair of biplane wings and rudder with a propeller driven by the tank's engine. In this scheme, the tank commander would also pilot the vehicle. "The flying tank is a machine to end war," Christie told Modern Mechanics magazine in 1932. "Knowledge of its existence and possession will be a greater guarantee of peace than all the treaties that human ingenuity can concoct. A flock of flying tanks set loose upon an enemy and any war is brought to an abrupt finish." If only…."
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Amicalement
Armand

Both Germany and Britain had flying tanks. One was in a (six engine) glider and the other was in a standard glider. Any tank that could fly "it's self" is just too complex to be justified as you would need a pilot tank driver and would need to be sturdy enough to fly and then reassembled upon landing (under fire?).

I don't know about the tank in the German Gigant but the British glider had a quick release so it could be out shortly after the glider stopped moving.

The British Tetrach used a system in the Hamilcar glider where the tank moving forwards hinged the nose of the glider up.

Thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand

I think the Tetrach was one of few Lend Lease they didn't like …