Tiger 1 air cleaners

[cupoftea]

On the web I have seen several pictures of tiger 1's with the fiefel air cleaners missing but with the brackets for the air cleaner system in place. The tigers have the early cupola and early road wheels. I am guessing that this was a field modification rather than a factory one. Unfortunately I cannot find any pictures of the engine decks of these machines that show if the engine deck air intake was still present or if they removed that too.

Any ideas chaps?

[wibblywobbly]

It depends where they were deployed, the sand filters were for desert use, hence if they redeployed the Tigers then the filters would be removed but the mounting brackets would remain.

The engine deck inlet would be changed to an open design, if you take a look on Google Images you will find pics that show the two different designs. You can buy resin or metal castings for the non-Feifel design, some are better than others, though they aren't difficult to make from styrene.

Rob

[cupoftea]

Thanks Rob.

I have just started trying to learn about the history of tiger tank and every question that is answered seems to throw up several more!

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Hi cupoftea. If you look at my Normandy Tiger (see link below) you may find some help.

Basically there was a phase of the production run which spanned both early and late cupolas where the Feifel clamps were fitted but the actual cleaners and pipes were not.

Tanks

[cupoftea]

Hi cupoftea. If you look at my Normandy Tiger (see link below) you may find some help.

Basically there was a phase of the production run which spanned both early and late cupolas where the Feifel clamps were fitted but the actual cleaners and pipes were not.

Tanks

Thank You Sir.

I have just read your thread - it is both informative and inspiring.

[DavidByrden]

Basically there was a phase of the production run which spanned both early and late cupolas where the Feifel clamps were fitted but the actual cleaners and pipes were not.

I think these Feifels were missing because the crews removed them, not because they were omitted at the factory. Hence the engine hatch would still have the large Y-duct.
On the other hand, in the last few months of 1943, the new Tigers did come with Feifel attachment points and nothing else.

David

[jarndice]

Hallo David, As theory's go it as likely as any other but I would be interested in what you are using as a reference. I have found out the hard way that there are a lot of very knowledgeable members of the forum who will know the exact history of Feifel Air Cleaners as well as any thing else concerning Tanks of any nation or age. shaun

[tanks_for_the_memory]

Hi David. Perhaps I was the cause of any confusion. In the middle phase I was talking about the Y trunking was certainly still present alongside the clamps and mounting points. Once the rear travel lock was fitted there was no room for the starboard Feifel cleaner anyway. Bear in mind that when mid-production Tigers were being built the desert war was still raging so it's possible that these tanks were assembled with that in mind...

[Dug]

Jentz and Doyle state in their Osprey Guide on the Tiger 1: "November 1942: For Tigers sent to Tropical Climates (Tunisia, Sicily, Italy and Heeres Gruppe Sud and Mitte in Russia) air filters were mounted on the upper corners of the hull rear. After August 1943 these were no longer installed in the factory."

The major turret redesign was from Turm 391 in July 1943 and the deletion of the deep wading equipment was from August 1943. So factory fitting of Feifel stopped at around the point of the change of cupola and other major changes. The firewall was changed in September 1943 and the rear travel lock for the gun came in around November 1943. However there was a lot of "use the bit at the front of the pile" in Tiger production that means you can get overlap in the use of parts.

The air cleaners were very easily damaged, either by battle damage (the right rear air cleaner on 131 is holed in two places) or by simply being bent by the crew and I've seen several pictures where they were obviously of little if any use. (Tigers at Kursk can be seen with and without them = page 309 of Zitadelle by Mark Healy shows two tigers - probably of Das Reich, one with Feifel and no exhaust shields and one with shields by no Feifel)). As parts supply was a constant problem I suspect they were often simply removed at the front when damaged and the Y air inlet and trunking left in place.

The other point to consider is that you can have hybrid Tigers with late road wheels and early turrets simply because of refurbishment and late war use of anything available. My limited experience is that as soon as you are definitive on Tigers a photo turns up to prove you wrong! So I stand to be corrected if anyone has better information.
Regards
Dug

[lhardnova]

The way I see it is that there are a lot of possibilities of look on the Tiger 1, Build it the way you want to, with air cleaners or without, I am sure if their were more pictures out there you would see thousands of variations of this tank in the field.