The rapid development of military aviation, observed in the thirties of the last century, obviously affected the process of creating and modernizing air defense. At the same time, together with the designers who came up with real and promising projects, the most real projectors proposed their ideas. Bold new proposals made it to the press, attracted public attention and even became the subject of controversy, but the military, being realists, immediately rejected them. One of these projects in the field of air defense remained in history under the loud name Tour Maginot - "Maginot Tower".
Despite the existence of the Versailles Peace Treaty, official Paris feared a revival of Germany's military power. The main and most visible consequence of such fears was the construction of the Maginot Line on the eastern borders of the country. The main construction work was completed in the mid-thirties, and France, as it seemed then, received reliable protection from a possible attack. Nevertheless, protection was available only on the ground, and therefore it was necessary to organize a sufficiently powerful air defense.
Proposed view of the "Maginot Tower"
While the French command was drawing up and implementing plans for the construction of air defense facilities, the production and deployment of weapons, enthusiasts came up with alternative options for protecting the country. Among the new ideas, there were also extremely bold ones, including those that were fundamentally unrealizable. The author of one of these proposals was the engineer Henri Lossier. At the end of 1934, he proposed a more than original and daring version of the air defense complex to protect Paris from enemy aircraft.
Probably A. Lossier considered that for the most effective protection of the capital from air raids, an air base with fighters should be located directly on its territory, but this seriously limited the area of such an object. At the same time, it was required to use a certain method of the fastest possible exit of aircraft to operating altitude, so that they could take an advantageous position before the start of the battle and gain advantages over the enemy. Such requirements could only be met in one way. A special anti-aircraft tower had to be built to accommodate the take-off pads.
By analogy with the Line under construction, A. Lossier suggested calling his building the Maginot Tower. Apparently, this name was supposed to reflect the reliability and inaccessibility of the tower with aircraft and anti-aircraft guns, as well as show its strategic importance for the country's security. Finally, it was a tribute to the late Defense Minister Andre Maginot.
The main idea behind the Tour Maginot project was quite simple. In one of the districts of Paris, it was proposed to build a tower containing several circular take-off sites. Starting from a certain height above the ground allowed fighters to pick up speed already in the air and quickly find themselves in the path of enemy bombers. Also, anti-aircraft guns of different calibers should have been mounted on the sites, which, it was believed, could increase the effectiveness of the artillery. The main ideas of the Maginot Tower project were quite simple, but it was proposed to implement them in a more than remarkable way. The finished airbase-tower had to be simply huge in size and differed in the extreme complexity of the design.
Everyday Science and Mechanics about the French project
According to A. Lossier's calculations, a structure with a total height (taking into account the foundation) of 2,400 m would show optimal combat capabilities. The mass of such a tower was 10 million tons. For comparison, the famous Eiffel Tower has a height of 324 m and weighs "only" 10, 1 thousand tons. Nevertheless, as the inventor believed, it was such a design that could give the required potential. First of all, it made it possible to raise the take-off pads to a sufficient height.
The promising "Maginot Tower" was supposed to stay on the ground with a reinforced concrete foundation extending to a depth of 400 m. On the surface of the ground, the designer placed the tower itself with a diameter of the lower part of 210 m and three additional large hangars placed around it. Between the hangars there were additional triangular supports of the corresponding dimensions. The tower was supposed to be a tapered structure with a maximum height of 2000 m, made of reinforced concrete with a metal cladding. At an altitude of 600 m, 1300 m and at the top, it was proposed to place three conical extensions that accommodate take-off pads, storage rooms for equipment, etc.
The huge mass of the structure led to its special configuration. In the lower part of the walls, the towers were supposed to have a thickness of 12 m. As they climbed up and the load decreased, the thickness gradually decreased to tens of centimeters. The large thickness of the walls solved the problem of weight, and also became a real protection against bombs or artillery shells.
For aircraft basing A. Lossier proposed a very original design with the logical name "airfield". At a given height around the main structural element, the barrel of the tower, it was necessary to arrange an annular platform with a radius of about 100-120 m above the radius of the tower. From above, it was covered with an armored roof in the form of a truncated cone, assembled from a large number of curved sections. It was assumed that such a roof would protect aircraft and personnel from enemy bombs: they would simply slide down and explode in the air or on the ground. Several other circular platforms could be accommodated under the roof of the "airfield". For obvious reasons, the number of such platforms and the available volumes depended on the size of the armor cone. Most of the space was inside the lower one, while at the top was the smallest one.
Tour Maginot in Modern Mechanix magazine
The lower part of the curved roof element, in contact with the platform only at two points, was supposed to form an opening 45 m wide and 30 m high. It should have been closed with a mechanically operated armored gate. Through many such gates around the platform perimeter, it was proposed to release aircraft from the "airfield". In addition, they could be used as ports for artillery. The lower platform, along the perimeter of which there were many gates, was the take-off platform, while the other platforms under the conical roof could be used for storing and preparing aircraft for departure.
To move the aircraft, the Maginot Tower had to have several large freight elevators. Their shafts of a large cross-section were located inside the tower and passed along its entire height, providing free access to ground hangars or to any areas of high-altitude "airfields". Passenger lifts and simple flights of stairs were also provided.
Some of the volumes inside the barrel of the tower, located between the protected hangars, were proposed to be given for various rooms and objects. So, next to the hangars of the first conical expansion, it was planned to place various offices for commanders, aviation and artillery command posts, etc. Inside the second cone, there could be a hospital of its own. In the third, which had the smallest dimensions, it was necessary to equip a meteorological station. Certain objects, such as workshops, etc., could be "lowered to the ground" and placed in the lower hangars.
The main “weapon” of the Tour Maginot facility was to be fighter planes. The dimensions of elevators, hangars, take-off sites and gates were determined taking into account the dimensions of the equipment of that time. In terms of size, the promising air defense tower was compatible with any existing or promising fighters in France or foreign countries.
The largest "airfield" in the context
The combat work of aviation with the "Maginot Tower" was supposed to be based on unusual principles, but at the same time it was not particularly difficult. It was proposed to keep the duty units of fighters on the take-off sites in combat readiness. The announcement of the approaching enemy aircraft was followed by the opening of the armored gate. Using small areas of "airfields", the aircraft could take off and gain some speed. Coming off the platform, they were able to increase their speed by descent, while maintaining a sufficient height. It was assumed that just a few seconds after the start, the plane would pick up the speed and altitude required for battle.
However, the turret's own "airfields" were not intended for aircraft landing. After completing the flight, the pilot had to land on a separate platform at the foot of the tower. Then the plane was proposed to be rolled into a ground hangar and there placed on an elevator, returning to the original take-off site. After the required service, the fighter could go back to flight.
A. Lossier calculated that the "Maginot Tower" proposed by him could simultaneously be at least several dozen aircraft. By tighter placement in storage hangars or on take-off sites, this number could be significantly increased, having received a corresponding increase in the combat qualities of the entire airbase-tower.
To further increase the potential of the air defense tower, the author of the project proposed placing anti-aircraft artillery on different sites. On stationary installations, it was possible to mount any existing weapons, including maximum calibers. Depending on the chosen configuration and the "balance" of artillery and aircraft, the Tour Maginot could hold tens or hundreds of guns. At the same time, it was argued that loads even from large-caliber guns are not a problem for the design of the turret. A simultaneous shot in one direction from 100 84 mm cannons could vibrate the top of the turret with an amplitude of only 10 cm.
Airplane lifts
It is important that engineer A. Lossier understood what the construction of a tower a couple of kilometers in height would lead to. It was estimated that the wind load on the structure could be as high as 200 psi. ft (976 kgf / sq.m). Due to its large size, the tower would have to experience a load of hundreds of tons. However, the total surface pressure was found to be insignificant compared to the total weight and strength of the structure. As a result, even with a strong wind, the top of the tower had to deviate from the initial position by only 1.5-1.7 m.
The Tour Maginot type air defense tower 2 km high, designed for dozens of aircraft and guns, was designed with the protection of the French capital in mind. However, Henri Lossier did not stop there and worked out options for the further development of existing ideas. First of all, he was now looking for ways to increase the launch altitude of aircraft. The whole of this turned out to be a further increase in the height of the entire tower as a whole.
The hypothetical dimensions of the Maginot Tower were limited by the capabilities of the available materials. Calculations have shown that the use of more durable concrete of new grades in combination with reinforced reinforcement will allow the tower height to be increased to 6 km or more. The maximum height of an all-metal structure made of promising grades of steel was determined at 10 km - more than a kilometer above Everest. However, the materials technologies of the mid-thirties did not allow such ideas to be put into practice.
The design of the original air defense tower appeared at the end of 1934 and was probably presented to the French military department. In addition, information about an extremely daring proposal made it to the press and attracted public attention in various countries. In general, this was the main achievement of the project. The airbase tower with planes and cannons became a topic of discussion and a source of controversy, but no one even thought of building it in Paris or anywhere else.
Another image of the "airfield" with the removal of part of the roof. Above left - a variant of a scaled-down elevator for lifting planes to the uppermost platform
Actually, all the main problems of A. Lossier's project are visible at its first consideration. Moreover, we are talking about the most serious shortcomings, which immediately put an end to the whole idea - without the possibility of its refinement and improvement with obtaining acceptable results. Improving certain elements of the tower allows you to solve certain problems, but does not exclude other disadvantages.
The main disadvantage of the Tour Maginot project is the unacceptable complexity and high cost of construction. The inventor calculated that the two-kilometer tower would require 10 million tons of building materials, not counting a variety of interior equipment. In addition, completely new samples of construction equipment, internal equipment, etc. would have to be created specifically for such a tower. It is scary to imagine how much the program for the construction of just one such air defense structure would have cost and how long it would have lasted. It is quite possible that the construction would have taken away the lion's share of defense budgets in a few years. At the same time, it would be possible to improve the defense of only one city.
The level of defense of the tower may be a source of controversy. Indeed, the slope and armor of the roofs of the "airfields" made it possible to protect people and equipment from detonating bombs. However, the survivability of a real structure of this kind is questionable. In addition, the air defense tower could become a priority target for enemy aircraft, and the most powerful bombs would not be spared on it. Could concrete and steel have been able to withstand active bombing - in practice, it was not possible to establish.
In this case, you do not need to worry about the survivability of the main structural element of the tower. A massive bombing strike, capable of causing fatal damage to the walls of the base of the barrel, which had a thickness of 12 m, at that time would hardly have been within the reach of the bomber aviation of any country. The need to deliver a huge number of bombs at the same time faced problems in the form of the accuracy of unguided weapons and opposition from air defense.
Comparison of different large objects: "Maginot Tower" is larger than Mount Washington, Brooklyn Bridge and other high-rise buildings
Finally, the combat effectiveness of a high tower with its own "airfields" raises doubts. Indeed, the presence of several raised take-off pads, in theory, can reduce the time to climb for combat. However, in reality, such tasks were solved in much simpler ways: timely detection of approaching aircraft and the rapid rise of interceptors. The takeoff of the plane from the ground did not look as impressive as the "jump" from the raised platform, but it made it possible to get, at least, not the worst results.
Placing anti-aircraft guns on the tower made a certain sense, since it made it possible to increase their reach in height and range, as well as to exclude the negative impact of the surrounding urban development. However, the need to build a two-kilometer tower with three sites for aircraft and cannons negates all these advantages. Similar results could be obtained with the help of smaller towers, transferring the interception of high-altitude aircraft targets.
Naturally, no one began to consider Henri Lossier's project seriously, not to mention the recommendation for the construction of one or more Maginot Towers. An overly bold project became famous only thanks to publications in the press. However, the glory was short-lived, and he was soon forgotten. In the thirties, a great many of the most unexpected and unusual projects of equipment, weapons, fortifications, etc. were proposed in France and other countries. New reports of interesting inventions soon overshadowed the Tour Maginot project.
It is hardly worth reminding once again that any new model should not only solve the assigned tasks, but be technically or economically acceptable. The anti-aircraft "Maginot Tower" designed by A. Lossier did not meet these requirements from the very beginning, which immediately determined its further fate. The project instantly fell into the category of architectural curiosities, where it remains to this day, demonstrating what unlimited inventive courage can reach.
