Winged tank

Tanks with glider wings were the subject of several unsuccessful experiments in the 20th century. It was intended that these could be towed behind; or carried under an airplane, to glide into a battlefield, in support of infantry forces.

In war, airborne forces use parachutes to drop soldiers behind enemy lines to capture and hold important objectives until more heavily equipped friendly troops can arrive. Military planners have always sought ways to provide airborne troops with combat support equipment in the form of light armoured vehicles or artillery which can be dropped by parachute or military glider.

The biggest problem with air-dropping vehicles is that their crews drop separately, and may be delayed or prevented from bringing them into action. Military gliders allow crews to arrive at the drop zone along with their vehicles. They also minimize exposure of the valuable towing aircraft, which need not appear over the battlefield. An improvement would be a tank which could glide into the battlefield, drop its wings, and be ready to fight within minutes.

In the early 1930s, American engineer J. Walter Christie had experimented with flying tanks idea.

In the early 20th century, parachute silk was rare in the Soviet Union, so the military conducted experiments with air-dropping soldiers into deep snow without parachutes. In 1930, the Grokhovskiy Special Design Bureau experimented with dropping "air buses" full of troops: the bicycle-wheeled G-45 onto land, and the amphibious "hydro bus" into water. When the hydro bus disintegrated on landing, the chief designer and his assistant were strapped into the G-45 for a test drop; they survived, but the project was cancelled.

Later, the Soviets used heavy bombers to land on the battlefield carrying T-27 tankettes and T-37 tank light tanks, and experimented with air-dropping light tanks (both with and without parachutes). In 1941, airborne units were issued T-40 amphibious tanks.

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Wikipedia