the 188 ton Porsche that predates all the sports cars

[Obin Robinson]

i'm going to assume that you already checked out the Porsche VK 45.01 (P) in this post:

Porsche... long before sports cars there was this
if not check that out first.

ok, so you saw the Panzerkampfwagen in the other post, but now it's time for the Porsche 205 (quite a few before the 356 ):





http://www.achtungpanzer.com/pz7.htm

"The development of super heavy tank started as early as 1941, when Krupp started the studies of superheavy Soviet tanks. In early 1942, Krupp produced designs of Tiger-Maus (VK7001) and PzKpfw VII Lowe (VK7201), but on March 5/6th of 1942, order for heavier tank was placed. Lowe never reached the prototype stage but paved the way for their successor's development. On March 21/22nd of 1942, Porsche received the contract for new 100-ton Panzer - VK10001 / Porsche Typ 205. On April 14/15th, it specified that new 100-ton tank must carry at least 100 rounds of ammunition. VK10001 was to be developed by Professor Ferdinand Porsche and Dr.Muller (Krupp) at the personal demand of Adolf Hitler made in May of 1942. He demanded 120-ton "indestructible" super-heavy tank armed with high performance L/60 or L/72 gun.

On June 23rd of 1942, Porsche provided their design for improved VK10001 armed with turret mounted 150mm L/37 and 105mm L/70 guns. Porsche promised that first prototype will be ready in May of 1943. In December of 1942, new armaments such as 150mm gun, 127mm naval gun, 128mm Flak and the longest version of 128mm were considered. Also in the same month, it was restated that first vehicle was to be ready in Summer of 1943, followed by the production 5 per month. First official names VK10001 and Porsche Typ 205 ("Mammoth") were used in April of 1942, followed by Maeuschen (Mousy) in December of 1942 and Maus (Mouse) in February of 1943.

Some sources state that according to Porsche, Hitler's aim for the Maus was to plug holes in the Atlantic coastal defenses on the Western Front, where it's limited range and mobility wouldn't have been too much of a hindrance. The popular version states that V2 prototype was blown up by the personnel at proving grounds in Kummersdorf, while some sources state that actually V2 saw combat while defending the facility at Kummersdorf. When war ended, almost finished V1 turret and third hull were found at Krupp facilities in Essen.

Overall, Maus was an interesting design but it would be of limited combat value because of its poor mobility and heavy weight making it more of a mobile fortification rather than a super tank. One fully assembled example (V2 turret mounted on V1 hull) was tested at Kubinka in 1951/52 and can be seen today in the Museum of Armored Forces in Kubinka (near Moscow) in Russia.

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pretty cool huh? i first heard about this Porsche design when I was 7 years old. i'm a bigtime war history buff and I remember seeing pictures of it in various books at the library. i even named one of the servers here at work after the "Monster Maus".

i took this post also from another web site i posted it on. but again i thought people here would enjoy it.

enjoy!

obin

[tabs]

U just discovered this? I posted a link to this stuff on the Registry Board nearly 2 years ago. When I was a Junior in High School I lectured all 6 periods of my High School History class on WW2.

[Obin Robinson]

actaully, i discovered it back when I was 7 years old. the Monster Maus was in a book about WWII tanks and i thought "Wow! that's pretty cool!" i even named one of our servers here at work after it .

i have been into tanks and military history about as long as i've been into cars: i.e. as long as i can remember. but i thought that some people here not too well versed in history would find it interesting to see what Porsche made before sports cars.

now to find those Porsche ski-lifts, generators, and Zeppelin engines

obin

[tabs]

I picked up a Hisory book in the 2nd Grade, and that was it I was hooked. I read a lot of Archeaology books.. Then someplace in there I started to read military history...a while back on theis board I posted a partial list of the military history books I had read...

[Obin Robinson]

Originally posted by tabs
I picked up a Hisory book in the 2nd Grade, and that was it I was hooked. I read a lot of Archeaology books.. Then someplace in there I started to read military history...a while back on theis board I posted a partial list of the military history books I had read...

yeah, i remember reading "The Story of Flight" and all those old C.B. Colby books with millitary equipment in them. i even was a member of the Military Book Club and have a bunch of WWII and Vietnam books in our collection.

offhand, i'm thinning out a few of my old books. if you're interested:

http://209.4.91.164/images/fs/books/

those are all going for cheap. i.e. i'm trading them away for small stuff. otherwise i'm letting them go for $3 or so (depends on the book)

obin