Porsche King Tiger or Not

[Saxondog]

In researching my King Tiger Twins I found an interesting site and this statement below. According to this site the Porsche turret did not exists?
http://die-cast-army.over-blog.com/cate ... 08575.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Henschel won the contract, and all Tiger IIs were produced by the firm. Two turret designs were used in production vehicles. The initial design is sometimes misleadingly called the "Porsche turret" due to the belief that it was designed by Porsche for their prototype. In fact this turret was simply the initial Krupp design for both prototypes.

This turret had a rounded front and steeply sloped sides, with a difficult-to-manufacture curved bulge to accommodate the commander's cupola. Fifty early turrets were mounted to Henschel's hull and used in action.

The more common "production" turret, sometimes called the "Henschel" turret, was simplified with a flat face, no shot trap (created by the curved face of the initial-type turret), less-steeply sloped sides, and no bulge for the commander's cupola.

The track system used on the Tiger II chassis was a unique one, which used alternating "contact shoe" and "connector" links—the contact shoe link had a pair of transverse metal bars that contacted the ground, while the connector links had no contact with the ground.

The Tiger II was developed late in the war and made in relatively small numbers. Like all German tanks, it had a gasoline engine. However, this same engine powered the much lighter Panther and Tiger I tanks. The Tiger II was under-powered, like many heavy tanks of WW2, and consumed a lot of fuel which was already in short supply.

[Ad Lav]

Porsche made/designed 50 King Tiger turrets which were used iirc - the rest were Henschel or common name Production Turret

They both used the same chassis, the Henschel one as you mentioned had no shot trap and had more armour.

[tankmad]

Nice find I liked the bit about Joachim Peiper he was a war criminal who escaped getting hanged by the skin of his teeth and got a cushy job with Porsche then his past caught up on him and he was burned to death. No one was ever convicted of it poetic justice I can't beleive anyone would want to do his tank.
Stevie

[jrc]

sorry AdLav but Sax has it right, the turrets were Krupp designs and Porche and Henchel made the chassis. The two chassis were different and the Porche ones were finally used for Ferdinands. Both turrets were used on the Henchel chassis but the curved one was soon discontinued.

cheers
Ross

[BREL]

Nice find I liked the bit about Joachim Peiper he was a war criminal who escaped getting hanged by the skin of his teeth and got a cushy job with Porsche then his past caught up on him and he was burned to death. No one was ever convicted of it poetic justice I can't beleive anyone would want to do his tank.
Stevie

I heard about this too and thought it was very apt about the way he was burnt to death and that no one was convicted for it

[jrc]

It was a bit stupid of Peiper to go and live in France though, did he expect them to welcome him?

[Saxondog]

Well now that we have an understanding of the turret manufacturer, what about the 88mm rifle? Depending on the turret is not the breech mounting different? The mantel and front faces are different but how does any of those points effect the rifle used? Also the real question is are the barrels a different length, muzzle brakes,or barrel sleeves different?

Sax

[AERO-MATE]

very nice?

[Ad Lav]

Ah, I thought they just designed different turrets! My Tamiya instructions must lie...

[Dietrich]

Just to add my two pennys worth....There are ALWAYS TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY......Joachim Peiper like so many of the alleged war criminals was convicted on poor evedince usually obtained from fellow prisoners under torture by the Americans and in some cases by the British!!

After the surrender of the German armies, the Americans searched POW camps for the men of Kampfgruppe Peiper. They were said to have left a “bloody track along their way”. Some war crimes during the "Battle of the Bulge" were attributed to the Kampfgruppe Peiper.

Jailed in Freising in Upper Bavaria, Peiper underwent his first interrogations.Investigators quickly found that the SS men, including Peiper, although hardened soldiers, were not trained to withstand interrogation. Some men freely gave the requested information while others only did so after having being subject to beatings, threats and mock executions. Peiper took personal responsibility for the actions of the men under his command.

In December 1945 Peiper was transferred to the prison at Schwäbisch Hall, where 1,000 former members of the Leibstandarte were assembled. Some reports suggested afterward that the interrogations included mock trials, both physical and psychological torture. Peiper and others claimed to have been repeatedly beaten and threatened with having their families handed over to the Russians. On 16 April 1946 approximately 300 prisoners were moved from Schwäbisch Hall to Dachau, where they were put on trial.

Favorable testimony concerning Peiper's treatment of American prisoners at La Gleize, offered by Lieutenant Colonel Hal McCown, did not move the court. McCown, who, along with his command, had been captured by Peiper at La Gleize, testified that wounded American soldiers in Peiper's custody had received equal priority with German wounded in receiving medical treatment. Further that at all times during his occupation of the town, Peiper had behaved in a professional and honorable manner.


Do Not Just Believe The bad Things That Are Written About The Germans....Research It Properly...AND REMEMBER....
THE PROPAGANDA OF THE VICTORS........BECOMES THE HISTORY OF THE VANQUISHED
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> WAR IS HELL <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ....and the Allies were also guilty of war crimes..The leading example of which is ... 'Bomber Harris' and his fire bomb raids...... they were critisized at the time.....by his own superiors and his own crews....for the masacre of innocent civilians and there is still much debate about them today!!
Alb.