this episode is brought to you by curiositystream curiositystream is a subscription streaming
service that offers thousands of documentaries and non-fiction titles from some of the world's
best filmmakers including exclusive originals why not check out apocalypse world war one it draws
from over 300 hours of archival footage and it traces the journeys of civilians and soldiers who
fought for survival in one of the darkest times in history it examines an era that fundamentally
changed the balance of power worldwide from the wars outbreak in 1914 through the u.s intervention
and the treaty of versailles curiosity streams available on many platforms including web app
roku android xbox one smart tvs ios chromecast amazon fire amazon kindle and apple tv and is
also available worldwide go to curiositystream.com forward slash brain food for unlimited access the
world's top documentaries and non-fiction series and for you guys use the promo code brain food and
you'll save 25 off which comes out to just 14.99 a year or just a dollar 25 a month which is an
incredible deal so click the link below you'll get access to that special deal and now today's video
the great war of 1914 to 1918 has been described as the first industrial war and it saw the
battlefield debut of a number of advanced weapons including the aeroplane poison gas
the tank the flower and the submarine of these the tank and the aeroplane would go on to completely
revolutionize modern warfare the post-war years saw great leaps in the development of these
technologies as designers sought to create weapons powerful enough to prevent another world war from
ever breaking out some of these experiments however went in rather bizarre directions and
in a curious trend that would make pimp my ride's exhibit proud several nations spent a considerable
amount of time and effort trying to mash these two very different vehicles together and create
a workable flying tank while aircraft served in many roles during the great war including
aerial reconnaissance ground attack and air-to-air combat it was not until after the war that they
were seriously considered for transporting troops and equipment to the battlefield or dropping them
behind enemy lines the first nation to experiment with airborne forces was the soviet union which
conducted the first military parachute jumps on the 2nd of august 1930 just outside of moscow
by 1941 the soviet airborne forces had grown to 10 brigade-sized cores but aside from a handful
of instances they never jumped into combat and were mostly used as elite ground troops
the first nation to actually use paratroops in combat was nazi germany whose false shimyaka
were used to great effect during the invasion of denmark france and the low countries in the summer
of 1940 and for more on that please do check out our previous video how the nazis managed
to capture the world's strongest fortress in less than 20 minutes as effective as they were however
paratroopers suffered from fundamental weakness as all their equipment had to be delivered by
parachute airborne troops were perpetually short on ammunition and could not be supplied with
vehicles or heavy weapons this placed them at a significant disadvantage against regular troops
especially those equipped with heavy vehicles like tanks parachute drops also tended to scatter
paratroops over a wide area forcing them to waste time regrouping and gathering their equipment
before launching an attack the germans partially addressed this problem through their use of troop
carrying gliders which could land a full squad of men and their equipment directly onto the target
with pin point accuracy however early gliders like the dfs-230 were nowhere near large enough
to carry even a light military vehicle much lesser tank into combat as with the general concept of
airborne forces it was once again the soviets who first developed methods for airlifting tanks into
combat in the early 1930s the soviets experimented with strapping light-armored vehicles like
the t-27 and t-37 tankette beneath tuggly tb3 heavy bombers the original intention was for the
aircraft to land and lower the tank and its crew to the ground however as this required a large
flat landing area and made the aircraft vulnerable to enemy fire the soviet switched instead to the
extraordinary technique of dropping tanks from aircraft while skimming only a few metres above
the ground several tanks are reported to have been dropped in this manner during the 1940s soviet
invasion of better arabia in what is now moldova in ukraine it is not recorded however whether
their crew survived the ordeal without massive concussions whatever the case these methods were
soon deemed inadequate and the red army turned to famed aircraft designer oleg antonov to develop an
assault glider large enough to carry a tank into combat and all thinking outside of the
box instead decided to convert the tank into a glider by fitting it with a pair of massive
wooden biplane wings and a twin boom tail this frankenstein's monster of a vehicle dubbed the
antonov a40 or kt short for krillia tanker or winged tank was designed to be towed into the
air by a heavy bomber like a petroliak of p-e-8 or a tupolev tb3 and released near its target
the crew would then pilot the combination to the ground spinning up the tracks at the last minute
in order to make a running landing the wings and tail would then be cut away allowing the tank to
trundle off into action control while gliding was accomplished by connecting the tank's gun
to the control surfaces such that raising and lowering the gun caused the aircraft to pitch
up and down and rotating the turret caused it to roll side to side to prove the concept anson
have modified a t-60 light tank by removing its gun headlights ammunition and much of its fuel
and arranged for it to be test flown by famous glider pilot sergey anakin the first and only test
flight of the a40 took place on september 2nd 1942 and very nearly ended in disaster when the winged
attack successfully rose into the air it was so heavy and produced so much drag that the bomber
towing it came close to stalling and was forced to cut the glider loose shortly after takeoff
incredibly anakin skillfully managed to land the vehicle detach the wings and drive the tank back
to the airfield however due to a lack of official support and aircraft powerful enough to safely tow
the a40 the project was soon canceled one possible solution to the soviet's problem would have been
to make the a40 self-propelled and indeed this concept was briefly tinkered with a decade prior
by american inventor john walter christie in 1928 christie developed the christie suspension system
used a number of world war ii tanks including the british crusader and soviet t-34 this system
allowed the tanks to attain previously unheard of speeds over rough terrain and to continue driving
even if the tracks had been blown off in 1932 christie turned his considerable creative talents
to the development of a flying tank that would allow armored divisions to be quickly deployed
behind enemy lines a scaled-down version of his m1928 tank design the flying tank would weigh only
four tons sport a powerful 75 millimeter gun and be able to drive 70 miles per hour across rough
terrain and 100 miles per hour on prepared roads like the soviet a40 the tank would be fitted with
a massive set of breakaway rings this time featuring a propeller geared to the tank's
own engine christie's intention was the tank to accelerate across the ground using its tracks
until it reached 70 miles per hour whereupon power would be transferred to the propeller allowing
the vehicle to lift off does christie boast an interview in modern mechanics magazine what is
more the pilot of the flying tank does not need the level ground required by a bombing plane to
take off he can take off through mud through bumpy ground and ground which would prevent the average
plane from rising like many weapons designers of the era christie saw great potential in
his invention as a deterrent to future conflicts stating in the same interview the flying tank is
a machine to end war knowledge of his 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 on
an enemy and any war is brought to an abrupt finish alas christie's prediction would not
come true and his flying tank concept never left the drawing board nor did flying tanks become a
fixture of the second world war battlefield though this was not for lack of trying among the other
nations to experiment with airlifting tanks was japan which in 1943 developed the special number
three flying tank or so rar a three-ton vehicle designed to be flown into combat aboard the
kokusai ku7 buzzard assault glider however by the time the prototype was completed japan's strategic
situation had severely deteriorated and tanked never into production nazi germany the original
pioneer of airborne operations also experimented with tank carrying gliders though rather than
building a specialized airborne tank german designers instead chose to design gliders around
existing tank models in anticipation of operation barbarossa the nazi invasion of the soviet union
in 1940 the luftwaffe technical bureau put out a tender for a heavy lift assault glider
capable of carrying 200 fully equipped troops an 88 millimeter anti-tank gun and its towing tractor
or a panzer iv medium tank two aircraft companies messerschmitts and juncker's submitted designs for
trials the junkies entry was the ju-322 mammoth a massive and bizarre aircraft built mostly of
wood and featuring a wingspan of 62 meters and a large central cargo bay with a hinged ramp for
loading and unloading cargo the mermaid made its first flight in april 1941 but proved
dangerously unstable and difficult to control both undertow and in free flight nearly resulting in
the loss of the glider and toeplane furthermore during ground tests a tank crashed through the
cargo bay floor the luftwaffe quickly deemed the design inadequate and the project was cancelled in
may 1940. messerschmitt's entry the me321 gigant was only slightly more successful built of fabric
covered aluminium tubing the gigant had a wingspan of 55 meters and featured large clamshell doors
in its nose for loading and unloading cargo a standard feature on many transport aircraft today
like the mammoth however the gigantic shear size made it difficult and dangerous to operate the
massive control services were operated via cables with no hydraulic or other assistance making the
controls extremely heavy and quickly exhausting the pilot there were also few aircraft in germany
capable of towing a fully loaded gigant into the air during the gliders first test flight on
february 24 1941 the towing aircraft a four-engine juncker's ju-90 transport struggled to get the
gigante airborne and was forced to cut loose early to avoid stalling the germans attempted
to correct the issue by fitting the gigantic with eight detachable liquid fuel rocket pods
to provide extra thrust at takeoff a technique today known as rocket assisted takeoff or ratto
they also developed a special towing aircraft known as the heinkel he1110 or twin essentially
two regular heinkel he-111 bombers spliced together with an extra engine added however
development of the zwilling proceeded slowly and the germans were forced to tow the gigan using an
arrangement of three messerschmidt bf-110 heavy fighters known as a troika schlep this method
required considerable coordination between the three towing aircraft and proved highly dangerous
with one test flight in 1941 ending with two bf-110s accidentally colliding the ensuing crash
resulted in the deaths of all nine men on board the three towing aircraft and the 120 troops on
board the glider this incident would remain the single deadliest aviation accident in history
until the new york mid-air collision of december 16 1960. despite its flaws the gigante entered
service in may 1941 and was used to transport supplies to german troops advancing into russia
opinion on the gigan's performance was mixed while the glider could carry far more cargo than regular
transport aircraft the troika schlep towing arrangement severely limited its operational
range while the primitive conditions on the russian front meant that once a gigantic mandate
it could not be used again messerschmitt soon realized that the gigantic could be far more
useful as a self-propelled aircraft and began to work on a powered version called the me323
to avoid further straining germany's already thinly stretched engine industry the aircraft
was fitted with six gnome-run engines captured from the french the me323 the largest land-based
transport to fly during world war ii entered service in september 1942 carrying desperately
needed supplies to general irwin rommel's beleaguered africa corps in tunisia they were also
used extensively during the italian campaign while useful the lumbering gigante unfortunately proved
easy prey for allied fighter aircraft and suffered heavy losses wherever it was deployed ultimately
the only belligerent nation to deploy airborne tanks in the assault roll was great britain in
response to the stunning success of the german falsehood in france and the low countries in june
1940 prime minister winston churchill ordered the creation of britain's own airborne forces
in order to provide the paratroopers with armour support in 1941 the war office decided to equip
the airborne divisions with the mark vii tetrarch light tank while not originally designed as an
airborne tank at only eight tons the tetrarch was the smallest and lightest armored vehicle in the
british arsenal light tanks had also performed poorly during the battle of france causing the
tetrarch to be declared obsolete large numbers were thus readily available for use by airborne
forces to carry the tetrarch into combat the war officer selected the general aviation gl49
hammulcar assault glider due to delays in the hamilkar's development it was not until january
1944 that the glider pilot regiment finally began training exercises with the tetrarch these
exercises were highly successful with the regiment making over 2800 experimental landings with
only three fatal accidents the tetrarch hammer car combination was approved just in time to
participate in operation tonga the british airborne component of the d-day landings
on june 6 1944. twenty ted tracks were landed behind enemy lines in support of the assault of
the french city of cain but their performance was less than impressive on the flight to normandy one
tetrarch came loose and broke through the nose of its glider sending it and its crew plummeting into
the english channel below two further tetrax were destroyed when the gliders carrying them collided
on landing while a fourth was hit by a landing glider while being unloaded flipping it over
and rendering it unusable this comedy of aries continued as the remaining tanks tracks became
fouled in parachute rigging lines causing all but two to become immobilized the two surviving tetrax
a little better than their compatriots one of the tetrarch's greatest flaws was its small size
which limited its crew to three a driver a loader and a commander gunner the dual responsibility of
commanding the tank and operating the gun quickly attacked the commander making the tetrarch
difficult to operate effectively in the field it was also thinly armored and lightly armed with
an obsolete two pounder gun in normandy the tetrox found themselves completely outmatched by even the
lightest german tanks and most were quickly destroyed in combat yet despite their poor
combat performance in a strange twist of history the tetrarch still managed to have a major impact
on the battle of normandy on the morning of june 6 1944 the 21st panzer division was on its way from
kane to normandy beaches to counter the allied amphibious landings upon learning the british
tanks had been air-dropped behind them however the german commander decided to halt in advance
and retreat back to kane in response to the tetrarch's known flaws shortly after
its adoption in 1941 the british war ministry put out a request to a light tank specifically
designed for the airborne role as the british tank industry was already stretched to capacity
the request was passed on to the united states war office the result was the m22 tank designed by the
marmon herrington company of louisville kentucky weighing only seven tons like the tetrarch the
m22 had a crew of three and was armed with one 37-millimeter gun and a 50-caliber machine gun
in the turret and two more 50-caliber guns in the hull though light and compact enough to be carried
aboard a hamelcar glider the m22 was originally designed to be transported into combat by
a douglas c-54 skymaster transport aircraft four heavy brackets on the hull allowed the tank to be
bolted onto the aircraft's belly while the turret was designed to be removed and stored aboard the
aircraft along with the tank's crew upon landing a well-trained crew could detach reassemble and
get the tank combat ready in just 10 minutes however this transport method required the
use of a prepared runway and was never used in combat following further development including
the deletion of the gun stabilization system and the whole machine guns to save weight the first
m22s were delivered to the sixth airborne armored reconnaissance regiment in late 1943. strangely
despite a war ministry directive requiring that american-built tanks be named after civil war
generals like grant lee and sherman in british service the m22 was known as the locust british
trials of the locust revealed various mechanical issues which were not corrected in time for the
tank to participate in the normandy landings following the tetrarch's poor performance during
operation tonga however the type was retired and completely replaced by the locust the
locust combat debut came on march 24 1945 during operation varsity part of the allied crossing of
the rhine river into germany eight locusts of the 6th armored division reserve were landed by
hamilkar gliders to support infantry operations on the far riverbank as with the tetrox in normandy
however these landings were a absolute debacle with one locust falling out of a disintegrating
glider and another being completely destroyed when a glider crashed through a farmhouse
but the remaining six tanks only two emerged from the landings undamaged and with uninjured crews
nevertheless the locusts fought surprisingly well in the ensuing battle with one being destroyed
in a duel with a german panther tank and another being immobilized but managing to hold its ground
and inflict over a hundred german casualties by the following day however the front line
had stabilized and more capable tanks became available and the locusts were pulled back to
defensive positions and eventually withdrawn from combat altogether operation varsity would be the
only time the locust would see combat during world war ii the type being declared obsolete soon after
after the war stocks of locusts were sold foreign militaries including those of belgium and egypt
with the latter seeing extensive service during the 1948 arab israeli war in the end the flying
tank turned out to be a technological dead end the features required of an effective infantry support
tank such as thick armor and heavy armament were simply incompatible with the capabilities of 1940s
aircraft it would not be until the late 1960s that a practical airborne armored vehicle would
be developed by you guessed it the soviet union introduced in 1969 and still used today the bmd-1
is a small amphibious infantry fighting vehicle designed to carry two crew and six soldiers into
combat built of a lightweight aluminium alloy and weighing only eight tons the vehicle can
be carried by a variety of russian heavy-lift helicopters or air-dropped from a transport
aircraft using a special parachute rig originally it was intended that the vehicle and crew would be
dropped separately but this proved problematic as the crew often landed some distance from the
vehicle however even with parachutes the bmd landed too heavily to be safely dropped with
its crew on board this problem was eventually solved using solid fuel retro rockets to slow
the vehicle down just before landing a technique also used with the russian soyuz space capsules
bmd crews also sit in specially padded seats to cushion the shock of landing this prominent
exception aside however the term flying tank is perhaps best applied not to a literal tank but to
a variety of russian ground attack aircraft like the world war ii era aleutian il to stormovic and
the later mill mi-22 hind attack helicopter whose heavy armor and armament made them legendarily
indestructible so i really hope you found this video interesting if you did please do
hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe and as always thank you for watching