What weapons were desinged for airborne use?

Answer 1

During WW2, several weapons were designed for use by airborne troops, including by several different countries. The most common was to cut down the size of the personal weapon. I think Italy re-sized their Carcano rifle, the Model 1938TS (not the Cavalry carbine). The US cut down the Thompson sub-machine gun to make it shorter. The US designed a light, airborne tank in WW2 but it was never actually dropped from the air in combat. The artillery for the US Airborne troops was a 105mm Howitzer that was much smaller in size. The M3 Howitzer had a barrel that was shortned by 27 inches and it was mounted on the sleigh of the M1A2 recoil mechanism from the 75mm howitzer and fitted to the M2A1 carriage of the 75mm. Its charge had less powder and thus had a shorter range but some batteries in infantry division adopted it, also. Then there were new designs in knives, explosives, and other personal effects. The Germans had a pocket knife that the blade slide out (gravity activated not switch blade).