Porsche... long before sports cars there was this

[Obin Robinson]

man i've been looking for that photo for a LONG time. i wish i could find a larger version. the 2nd guy from the left in the black hat is Ferdinand Porsche.

the vehicle? Panzerkampfwagen PzKpfw VI VK 45.01(P) (the "P" is for Porsche)

http://www.fprado.com/armorsite/tiger1.htm

The official WaPrüf 6 designation to the Porsche prototype from 5 March 1942 was PzKpfw VI (VK 45.01 P) (Ausfürung P). The Inspekteur der Panzertruppen (In6) designation, specified for use in training and maintenance manuals and in organization tables, was Panzerkampfwagen VI P (88 mm)(SdKfz 181) Ausfürung P. Suggested names were 'Tiger (P)', 'Tiger P1' or 'Porsche Tiger'. The Henschel prototype received the designation VK 45.01 (H). This Henschel model came into being as a rush job, quickly assembled from a mixture of components available from previous heavy panzer designs. Henschel were not originally involved in the 45 metric ton heavy tanks project, as they had been tasked with the development of a 36 metric ton medium tank with 80 mm front armor, the designation of which was Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausfürung B (VK 36.01). To meet the demand that the production program was to start in 1942, the VK 45.01(H) was quickly created by redesigning the VK 36.01. A new feature was the Vorpanzer (frontal shield) which could be lowered to protect the track and drive sprockets. However, this feature was quickly dropped, having only been fitted on this Versuchsserie Tiger Nr. 'V1'.

http://www.geocities.com/Silic...2.htm

the development of the Tiger II actually began with the process of selecting a more effective main gun for the heavy panzers. Based on this decision, Porsche was commissioned by WaPrüf 6, to determine if it was possible to mount the 88mm Flak 41 in the turret for the Porsche VK 45.01 (P). The turret had been originally designed by Krupp to house its 88mm KwK L/56, with a crew of three: commander, gunner, and loader. Porsche responded by telegram on 10 September, that only the L/56 could be considered for the VK 45.01 (P).

Porsche redesigned the chassis to mount the turret for the 88mm KwK 43 L/71, and to increase protection by sloping the front armor plates. The new design was specified as the Typ 180 by Porsche. The hull was fabricated using 80mm armor plate for the front, sides, and rear. The front upper hull was sloped at 45 degrees and the front lower hull at 35 degrees. This provided infinitely better protection than the predecessor with an upright 100mm driver front plate.

As was his trademark for tank power trains Porsche again specified a gasoline-electric drive for the Typ 180. Due to the time needed to order and fabricate components, contracts for assembly of 100 Porsche Typ 180 were already issued in February 1942. The Porsche Typ 180 was designated by WaPrüf 6 as the VK 45.02 (P) sometime before April 1942.

The first five vehicles complete with turret were to have been accepted and delivered by Nibelungenwerk in March 1943. Because of continuing problems with the drive train and suspension, the contracts for assembly of the production series were canceled on 3 November 1942. New contracts were issued by WaPrüf 6 for the assembly of a reduced order of only three prototypes.

By October 1942, Porsche had created additional automotive concepts for the VK 45.02 (P) as Typ 180B, 181A, 181B and 181C.

The 'Porsche' turret

The original 'Porsche' turret was purposefully designed to move the gun trunnions forward. As a result of the front overhang adequate room was gained between the gun breech and the turret race to allow for gun recoil, spent cartridge ejection and loading the long main gun rounds.

Along with the sloping sides and roof, the rounded, 100mm thick turret front presented a very difficult target for enemy gunners. To aid in balancing the turret, which was necessary for reduction in the power needed to traverse the turret, which was necessary for reduction in the power needed to traverse the turret when the tank wasn't level, the rear of the turret was extended to act as a counterweight.
Secondarily, this extra space created in the turret rear provided easy access to main gun rounds stored in ready racks. The loader's task of manoeuvring the long rounds within the cramped confines of the turret was simplified by pointing the nose of the ammunition toward the gun breech.

To increase the effective armor protection, the 80mm thick turret sides were sloped inward at an angle of 30° from the vertical. This decreased the width of the turret roof, necessitating the incorporation of a bulge in the left side to accommodate the commander's periscope cupola.

The commander had a pivoting hatch in the cupola, the loader had a hatch directly overhead and an escape hatch countersprung by torsion bars was provided in the turret rear. The rear of the turret could be unbolted to allow removal of all the internal components, including the gun, without dismounting the turret itself.
Adequate vision devices were provided with a binocular Turmzielfernrohr 9b/1 sighting telescope for the gunner, a fixed periscope for the loader, and all-around periscopes in the cupola for the commander. The pistol port with plug and a spent cartridge case ejection port, originally cut into the left turret side, were welded shut and covered with a Zimmerit anti-magnetic coating before leaving the assembly factory. The spent cartridge case ejection port was relocated to the turret roof behind the armored guard for the extractor fan.

The need for the pistol port was eliminated with the addition of the Nahverteidigungswaffe (close defense weapon) mounted in the turret roof. With 360° traverse, the Nahverteidigungswaffe could be used to fire grenades, smoke and signal rounds. Secondary armament was provided by an MG 34 mounted coaxially to the right of the main gun. A second MG 34 could be mounted on the cupola ring for anti-aircraft defense.

The first 47 Tiger II's were fabricated with this turret.

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tanks is where it's at! and i bet some of you thought they were some company that just had a history of making sports cars . i've known this for years but it was always tough to track down the photos until now.

i took this post from one i did on another web site. but i thought people here would enjoy it if they didn't see it over there.

obin

[stray15]

where the hell have you been Ob

[Obin Robinson]

i've been BUSY. mostly at the race track. also i'm testing an "ignorance is bliss" theory on car maintenance.

i theorize that if i act like a clueless Porsche owner, my 944 won't break. but if i am chasing after every sound and squeak i hear, i will "create" problems that really don't exist. this seems to work well with my VW, so hopefully it will work with the 944!

so far, it's working . nothing has broken or needed repair so far this year.

i'm also making juducious use out of the "search" feature to answer most of my questions.

obin