Panther Ausf F hulls never recived their Schmalturm's but there are images of a supposed Ausf F hull fitted with a G turret in destroyed Berlin, these are all the same tank as they have identical damage to the front mudguard/fender, I belive it is indeed an Ausf F hull as the rails for the new driver/radio operator hatches are just visible in the second image and the opening of the empty Stg 44 Mg ball looks slightly more square than the Ausf G versions but without clearer images i cannot say for certain if it is an FGeneral Jumbo01 wrote:With all these facts and figures regarding Panthers, maybe l could ask - the Panther F. When did it see battle? I have read it was in Berlin for the final bash but even that was disputed by someone who claimed it was a G with a prototype F turret. Does anyone here know or can refer me to some reliable text?
Any image of a Schmalturm on a Panther chasis is from initial testing of the first two turrets on Ausf G hulls
This image is the second turret, you can see it does not have the monocular gun sight hole and the rain guard over the mantlet has not been fitted yet
Production Ausf F would not have muzzle breaks due to the new recoil system in the Schmalturm
One thing I find interesting about these images of the trial turrets is that they are using left over early Ausf D tracks
As a side note no Ausf F was ever fitted with steel roadwheels, this was a trial run on the Ausf G only, if the war had progressed further then the F could have had these wheels depending on the results of the trials but likely would have used standard wheels for most of the time
Hope this helps
