Talk:Winged tank

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An entry from Winged tank appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 3 October 2006.

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[edit] ?

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)

Really? Wow! Is there any source where I can confirm that statement, because it sounds like someone has a very peculiar sense of humour. Zealander 05:25, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

I added the reference. The USSR in the 1930s was a laugh a minute. —Michael Z. 2006-10-01 18:20 Z

[edit] Jumping tank

Ever heard about Soviet jumping tanks? `'mikka (t) 08:20, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

(wow! "jumping tank" gives 3,070 google hits, all wrong ones `'mikka (t) 08:22, 3 October 2006 (UTC))

Found it in an old kids' book, labelled "the Flying Tank." The side elevation drawing looks like a turretless Christie tank with a small gun in the hull, biplane wings above, a single propeller engine mounted in the top wing, and a huge tail-vane on twin over-and-under booms. The caption:

After the First World War many ideas were put forward for armored fighting vehicles, this being one of the more fanciful. Invented by Walter Christie for flying over obstacles, it had a 750-hp airplane engine and propeller. It could leap a 20-foot gap from a 45 degree ramp. Christie sold it to Russia.

Hebden, Major Eric N. (1975), Weird and Wonderful Weaponry, p. 45. Secaucus, New Jersey: Enterprise Books. ISBN 0-89009-033-5.

The text says: "After he had sold it to Russia, though, it disappeared into oblivion," perhaps because of the lack of ramps on the battlefield. Not the best reference, but that's all I could come up with. —Michael Z. 2006-10-03 15:59 Z

After another look, it appears that the drawing in the book is based on Christie's flying tank in the old Modern Mechanics article.[1] Perhaps Christie downgraded his estimate from "flying" to "jumping" after completing a few more experiments, and sold his work before it got any worse. —Michael Z. 2006-10-03 16:08 Z

In the early twentieth century, parachute silk was rare in the Soviet Union, so the military conducted dubious experiments with air-dropping soldiers into deep snow without parachutes.

Does anyone have a citation for this? Research in other areas had seemed to indicate to me that this was something of an urban legend.

--62.173.76.218 08:04, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

That is from Zaloga, cited at the end of the paragraph. —Michael Z. 2006-10-09 18:22 Z