The Last 1.........A What If Tiger 1 Part 2
Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 12:55 am
Hi Guys, :~ HERE IS PART 2
Disaster has struck! The Last 1 was on road and cross country trials, and the driver got a little too free with the throttle. With the super charger screaming, rod #'s 8 and 11 decided to exit the block at terminal velocity and dimple the floor pan. A new Maybach with FI but sans charger is sitting in a crate on the shop floor, waiting the return of the Tiger. The argument is now over, no super charger on the Maybach. As a aside, our brilliant draftsman at Henschel is working on a different tangent with the nasty little device he designed for the turret side.
And ominous rumblings on the Ost Front....seems NKVD has the upper hand...at the moment...in the central area of Ukraine. If things go south, the AF3 Tiger may go east, not west. Next few days will tell the tale. Recon is working day and night to try to figure Whiskey Tango Hotel is going on, but indications are a build up in the Zhitomir area...again. The two Ukrainian divisions that attacked the Russian Army Group have withdrawn and are licking their wounds. and to all intents and purposes are combat ineffective at this time.
The situation just west of Zhitomir continues to deteriorate. The attack by the Russian 3rd Tank Army with two Guards Tank Divisions equipped with the latest JS 2 tanks is pressing the thin German lines to the limit. The King Tigers, albeit in limited supply in the Central Front, are holding their own against the JS, but the Panthers are doing poorly against them. While the Panther can penetrate the side and rear armor of the JS, only the King can perforate the frontal armor, but at risk themselves to heavy damage at ranges of less then 800 m. While Soviet tanks are attacking with the old elan, the infantry are holding back, not pressing attacks as they did before. The German lines are bending, but holding....at the moment. Losses are heavy on both sides. An emergency request for more Aufklarungs Kompanies has been made, and some units are being transfered from the virtually dormant Italian Front east. Will they arrive in time? The Germans are keeping a nervous eye on the North Front, wondering if Politboro has established control again there. Deserters say not, refugees say not, but....and the refugees continue to come in their thousands to the German lines, mostly women and children....
On the West Front, fighting has died down. The Allies seem to be catching their breath after the fruitless assualts on the German lines, and the Germans seem to be husbanding their forces, but for what? No large scale attacks from either side, just countless small skirmishes and firefights, day and night. Monty is rumored to be out, but his replacement has not arrived. Perhaps a problem there?
And another disappointment for the Allies. A full company of the new Pershings was doing a workup and had the misfortune to run in to a nest of Tigers where none were supposed to be, in what was considered to be a training sortie in a quiet area. The veteran Tiger crews promptly shot the neophyte Pershing company to pieces at range, and insult to injury towed two lightly damaged Pershings away. One King and one Tiger 1 were left as ruins on the field, the remains being stripped of usable parts that night. The surviving crews who made it back to Allied lines with the two limping Pershings left feel they have a bit of a score to settle now. There is no fear or lack of courage in the Allied Pershing crews, just smoldering anger at the mistake of running in to a veteran company of Tigers, the mistakes the new crews made, and the rude discovery that even the vaunted 9 cm in the Pershing could not penetrate a King from the front at anything more than knife fighting range. Another problem found with the new Pershing was it is woefully underpowered off road. It seems that on the flanking move around the left of the Pershing company two Kings outran 3 Pershings in a cross country race, all the while the Pershings were being peppered with 8.8 cm fire from two more Kings in support of the flankers. Of course, the Tiger crews had reconned the AO and the Pershing crews had not, but still....two of the Pershings were dispatched by the support, while the third had the good sense to withdraw, albeit heavily damaged, and was one of the two survivors.
The Henschel Werk is still working day and night, and the FA3 project is nearing completion. After the disaster of the Maybach grenading in tests, the new V 12 sans blower is installed and undergoing ops tests. The final touches are being made to the fighting systems of the venerable test bed, and all is going well. The IR suite has been installed, and the new crew has arrived for training. Various sensors have been installed, and the commo systems are in transit, the new Funk 23 and 25, arrival expected in the next 48 hours. The unit is almost ready for the final paint, and decision as to where it will go.
In the air, the Allies staged another 1000 bomber raid, aiming not at population centers or production facilities, but for once the transportation network and POL. Some sense finally in Bomber Command? The bomber flights were intercepted over the Channel, and the fighting continued thru to the target and back. ME 262's and Meteors fought it out, as did the Spitfires, Mustangs and FW's, and the tally will be made in the morning. Looses were grim on both sides of fighter commands, but bomber losses were especially distressing. Casualties are estimated to be over 40% for both Fighter and Bomber Command. The Germans faired no better, but in the end the raid was not successful, damage was not sufficient to halt transport. And as a harbinger of things to come, a Meteor fired a missile at an ME 262...and hit it.
In another distressing event, there was a food riot in Manchester two days ago. Troops had to be called in to restore order after the local crushers were overwhelmed. The King is not amused, and there is now open conjecture that perhaps the offers of negotiations with Heer Command may not be so bad after all, that cat having been let out of the bag by a resourceful Times reporter....who is now in prison charged with treason.
The situation west of Zhitomir has become even worse, with renewed attacks on the thin and fragile German lines. Two breaks in the German lines were only patched with difficulty, and units north and south of the fighting areas are being thinned more to send reinforcements to the Zhitomir area, as are units in Italy. Units already withdrawn and heading west are being turned around and sent to the Zhitomir area also. The few King Tiger units in the AO are being slowly worn down by attrition, and are anxiously awaiting replacements, which are on the way from the Henschel Fabrik. The Panther units have been decimated.
Refugees continue to pour in to the German lines, bringing harrowing stories of NKVD units run amok in the Zhitomir area, and fighting in many areas behind the Russian lines. Desertions have increased amongst the Russian troops also, but if caught deserters are executed on the spot. Riots are still extant throughout SSSR, and in some areas are being brutally put down by NKVD units, which has lead to some heavy fighting between the NKVD and entire regiments of the Soviet Army.
On the West Front, all is quiet at the moment. However, the veterans on both sides feel the coming storm, perhaps one last push by the Allies....or will the Germans strike first? With the denuding of the Ost Front to reinforce the West Front, in some areas the German units are almost equally matched in numbers with the Allies. And still no reply to Heer's offer of negotiations. Churchill has dug in his heals and is standing fast for unconditional surrender, a thought that is not well received by Heer, especially since Heer is rounding up with vigor many disagreeable remnants of the old regime, although many of the 'golden pheasants' have fled.
Riots continue in Manchester, and have spread to a few other cities. Leaders are being summarily shot for treason, which has lead to increased violence on the part of the rioters. One of the arrested leaders was found to be Irish after 'rigorous' interrogation before his execution, and the Government has now blamed the riots on Irish and Scottish provocateurs.
Sporadic riots also still occur in Germany, especially in Bavaria, where the 'new' government of Heer has quietly continued the call up of some 15 years old boys to the colors, a very unpopular move to say the least. However, with the virtual elimination of the Gestapo, the regular police have been using every more violent methods to stop the riots, which has led in turn to increasingly violent responses from the citizens. In some towns and cities, the Police are in a virtual state of siege in their barracks. And Hitler is no where to be found, as if he disappeared in to thin air. Heer has every available unit hunting for any trace of him, but absolutely nothing has been found.
Monty is out, seconded back home at the expressed order of Churchill, who himself faces a very uncertain political future. Monty's replacement has not been named, but for the moment the various commands are functioning as if nothing happened, and are following Ike's plans formulated before his untimely death in the accident that also killed Patton. Mark Clark is mentioned as his replacement, but nothing definite yet.
And the decision has been made. The FA3 Project prototype Tiger 1 is in transit for the Ost Front, traveling only at night and covered with a tarp, all rail lines being cleared for the train carrying him and other reinforcements, including a company of brand new King Tigers. The support echelons for the FA3 follow directly behind in another train.
The FA3 uses the spaced compressed cotton and porcelain filled armor on all hull sides, turret sides, and turret roof. The actual composition of the armor is secret. This additional armor has been tested and, when added to the already formidable armor of the standard Tiger 1, was found to be virtually impervious to known Russian, American, and British tank and anti tank gun fire. Of course, the FA3 is not omnipotent, but he is as strong a tank as has been fielded so far in the war. Needless to say, the weak points are still the drive sprockets and road wheels, in that if you can immobilize the tank, he is effectively out of the fight until repaired.
Wind, temperature, and humidity sensors have been developed and added to the test bed. The commander, gunner, and loader have been intensely trained to adjust range rapidly taking in to account the readings of the new instruments.
The Vampire Infrarot System has been considerably advanced, with two special lamps, one on the right side mantlet above the main gun, and one on the AA gun track on the commander's copula. Spares and spare mounts are carried in bins at the hull fire wall in the rear of the fighting compartment. An armored vision scope has been installed for the driver, directly in front of him in place of the now removed and plated over vision port. The standard Tiger headlight is used, but is infrarot now, not incandescent. The scope is from the King Tiger, developed by Henschel, and both rotates and tilts up and down. The two original scopes in the drivers and RO hatches are retained, and made infrarot capable, as are all the periscopes. All the scopes are powered by and fed from a central system mounted over the new transmission, which is somewhat smaller than the original trans mounted, and the room added has been used for the infrarot system and the sensor systems.
The new radio systems, Funk 23 and 25, are smaller and operate on a different wave length than the old systems. The antennas, of which there are two mounted on either side of the hull top next to the turret rear, are very short. Comparable radios are in transit on the train for Command and the company that will be assigned the FA3.
He is designed as a night fighter, will have at least two Tiger 1's and/or King Tigers in support at all times. Their crews will get rapid and rudimentary training to support the FA3, and will rarely fire themselves. Their task is to communicate to the FA3 any targets or problems, and will fire only on the orders of the FA3 CO except in dire circumstances. Funk 23 and 25 radios will be mounted in the support tanks also, albeit at the expense of ammo carried.
Main armament has been changed to the 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71. This involved extensive reworking of the mounting and recoil system of the weapon to fit the slightly smaller confines of the Tiger 1 turret, and indeed after all was said and done, it was found necessary to put a slight bulge in the turret rear armour about 40 cm deep to allow the loader sufficient space to insert the long cartridge for the weapon and for the .5 m recoil of the main tube. This bulge is plated over heavily with FA3 armour and concealed behind the turret storage bin on the rear of the turret. Main gun ammo reloads has been reduced to 49 rounds due to the increased length of the rounds for the new weapon and the addition of so much new equipment in the fighting compartment. However, this is felt to be sufficient for the FA3's role as a night hunter, using stealth and infrarot to find his victims. However, if needs be he can stand and slug it out with any adversary.
Extreme accuracy is obtained by stereoscopic sights installed above the main gun with rounded bulges in each side of the turret side right behind the main gun mantlet, and heavily armored with FA3 armor. Extensive modifications had to be done to the Zeiss system for it to fit over the reworked KwK 43 L/71 system, but it was completed, and in tests was found to be quite accurate from extreme down to knife fighting range. Infrarot was designed in to the system from the start, and feeds off the same central system as the periscopes. The main gun and sighting systems are gyro stabilized for the ability to shoot while moving.
As an added surprise, a little something was thought up by the aforementioned brilliant young designer at Henschel. While the radar fused air to air missiles were 'top secret', they were of course common knowledge between those 'in the know'. This young lad's father was instrumental in the development of the missile, and the lad happened to mention to the director of the FA3 project the possibility of perhaps, maybe, with permission, installing a similar system on the FA3. Needless to say, the lad and his father were summoned for questioning about why they were discussing State Secrets at the dinner table! However, the pressures of the project, and the elimination of certain ever suspicious elements in society in the Fatherland, allowed cooler heads to prevail, and with the help of his father, the young man designed and installed a dual launcher on the left turret side, carrying two radar fused missiles, with two reloads carried in a modified ammo rack in the hull sponson. The turret must be trained to fire the missiles at a target, and accuracy is not assured, but the prevailing wisdom is the system only has to be successful once before the word will spread like lightening amongst the Jabo pilots on all 3 fronts that the tanks now have an 'accurate' anti aircraft missile. At least, that's the thinking on this system! And our young lad, his father, and a cobbled together team of experts are working on a rudimentary radar guidance system for the missiles. Problem is size of the electronic components, but they are having at it with vigor.
So, it remains to be seen if all this effort to renovate an aging weapons platform has been worth while. However, spin offs from the development of the FA3 project are already being felt. Over half the King Tigers on the train with the FA3 have the new fuel injected Maybachs with the new variable speed transmissions. Development of steroscopic sights for the King Tiger and Panther are well advanced. The surviving Tiger 1's, numbering in the many hundreds, are in line to be upgraded if the FA3 project proves it's worth. The Panthers will be next, then the Kings.
And interestingly, an IS2 has been captured just west Zhitomir yesterday, damaged but basically intact, and it has some unusual lamps welded crudely to the turret. 4 of the crew, including the commander, survived the first rough pounce of capture, and are being interrogated as to just what these lamps and unusual equipment fitted in the IS is for, as the crew managed to trash most the devices.
SdKfz 182/3
Armament: Main: KwK 43 L/71 8.8 cm main gun, 49 rounds carried in various areas.
Sight: Zeiss M 615 b Steroscopic, Infrarot capable, gyro stabilized.
Turret traverse: Electro hydraulic, 3 speed variable, 360 degree time 10 seconds minumum to 3 minutes maximum. Secondary hand crank and gunner's fine adjustment hand crank, 5 turns = 1 degree
Secondary: 1 x MG 42 in coaxial mount next to main gun
1 x MG 42 on swivel mount commanders cupola
5500 rounds 7.92 ammo carried in various storages in turret
2 x Kralle anti aircraft missile launch tubes, 4 Kralle radar fused missiles carried.
Crew systems: All periscopes Infrarot capable, Zeiss transverse main gun sight Infrarot capable. 3 Infrarot lamps installed, one on commander's copula, one on main gun mantlet right side, one in headlight position on front upper hull plate. 6 spare lamps carried in storage bin on engine compartment fire wall
Motive sytems: Motor: Maybach V 12 HL 294 HO, fuel injected, water cooled, 23 L.
HP: 925, Bosch mechanical fuel injection system, naturally aspirated.
Transmission: Maybach Olvar Type 79, 8 fwd, 4 rev gears semi automatic
Steering: Hydraulic with manual steering levers as secondary control.
Performance: Top speed: 52 KPH
Armor: Hull front, sides, rear, turret sides and roof, supplemental FA3 spaced armor. Composition: secret, but known to be combination of compressed cotton and ceramic plates.
Equivalent Rolled homogeneous nickel-steel plate:
Hull front: 290 mm
Hull sides: 220 mm
Hull rear: 220 mm
Turret sides and rear: 245 mm
Mantlet: 325 mm
Commo sytems: Funk 23 and Funk 25 ultra short wave, range 10 kilometers minimum.
Weight: Full combat load with full fuel load: 67.3 tons
JUST LOOK AT THAT MAIN GUN !!
Robert Herne is a Vendor on his own site of http://www.etoarmour.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
He is also a member of this Forum.
Disaster has struck! The Last 1 was on road and cross country trials, and the driver got a little too free with the throttle. With the super charger screaming, rod #'s 8 and 11 decided to exit the block at terminal velocity and dimple the floor pan. A new Maybach with FI but sans charger is sitting in a crate on the shop floor, waiting the return of the Tiger. The argument is now over, no super charger on the Maybach. As a aside, our brilliant draftsman at Henschel is working on a different tangent with the nasty little device he designed for the turret side.
And ominous rumblings on the Ost Front....seems NKVD has the upper hand...at the moment...in the central area of Ukraine. If things go south, the AF3 Tiger may go east, not west. Next few days will tell the tale. Recon is working day and night to try to figure Whiskey Tango Hotel is going on, but indications are a build up in the Zhitomir area...again. The two Ukrainian divisions that attacked the Russian Army Group have withdrawn and are licking their wounds. and to all intents and purposes are combat ineffective at this time.
The situation just west of Zhitomir continues to deteriorate. The attack by the Russian 3rd Tank Army with two Guards Tank Divisions equipped with the latest JS 2 tanks is pressing the thin German lines to the limit. The King Tigers, albeit in limited supply in the Central Front, are holding their own against the JS, but the Panthers are doing poorly against them. While the Panther can penetrate the side and rear armor of the JS, only the King can perforate the frontal armor, but at risk themselves to heavy damage at ranges of less then 800 m. While Soviet tanks are attacking with the old elan, the infantry are holding back, not pressing attacks as they did before. The German lines are bending, but holding....at the moment. Losses are heavy on both sides. An emergency request for more Aufklarungs Kompanies has been made, and some units are being transfered from the virtually dormant Italian Front east. Will they arrive in time? The Germans are keeping a nervous eye on the North Front, wondering if Politboro has established control again there. Deserters say not, refugees say not, but....and the refugees continue to come in their thousands to the German lines, mostly women and children....
On the West Front, fighting has died down. The Allies seem to be catching their breath after the fruitless assualts on the German lines, and the Germans seem to be husbanding their forces, but for what? No large scale attacks from either side, just countless small skirmishes and firefights, day and night. Monty is rumored to be out, but his replacement has not arrived. Perhaps a problem there?
And another disappointment for the Allies. A full company of the new Pershings was doing a workup and had the misfortune to run in to a nest of Tigers where none were supposed to be, in what was considered to be a training sortie in a quiet area. The veteran Tiger crews promptly shot the neophyte Pershing company to pieces at range, and insult to injury towed two lightly damaged Pershings away. One King and one Tiger 1 were left as ruins on the field, the remains being stripped of usable parts that night. The surviving crews who made it back to Allied lines with the two limping Pershings left feel they have a bit of a score to settle now. There is no fear or lack of courage in the Allied Pershing crews, just smoldering anger at the mistake of running in to a veteran company of Tigers, the mistakes the new crews made, and the rude discovery that even the vaunted 9 cm in the Pershing could not penetrate a King from the front at anything more than knife fighting range. Another problem found with the new Pershing was it is woefully underpowered off road. It seems that on the flanking move around the left of the Pershing company two Kings outran 3 Pershings in a cross country race, all the while the Pershings were being peppered with 8.8 cm fire from two more Kings in support of the flankers. Of course, the Tiger crews had reconned the AO and the Pershing crews had not, but still....two of the Pershings were dispatched by the support, while the third had the good sense to withdraw, albeit heavily damaged, and was one of the two survivors.
The Henschel Werk is still working day and night, and the FA3 project is nearing completion. After the disaster of the Maybach grenading in tests, the new V 12 sans blower is installed and undergoing ops tests. The final touches are being made to the fighting systems of the venerable test bed, and all is going well. The IR suite has been installed, and the new crew has arrived for training. Various sensors have been installed, and the commo systems are in transit, the new Funk 23 and 25, arrival expected in the next 48 hours. The unit is almost ready for the final paint, and decision as to where it will go.
In the air, the Allies staged another 1000 bomber raid, aiming not at population centers or production facilities, but for once the transportation network and POL. Some sense finally in Bomber Command? The bomber flights were intercepted over the Channel, and the fighting continued thru to the target and back. ME 262's and Meteors fought it out, as did the Spitfires, Mustangs and FW's, and the tally will be made in the morning. Looses were grim on both sides of fighter commands, but bomber losses were especially distressing. Casualties are estimated to be over 40% for both Fighter and Bomber Command. The Germans faired no better, but in the end the raid was not successful, damage was not sufficient to halt transport. And as a harbinger of things to come, a Meteor fired a missile at an ME 262...and hit it.
In another distressing event, there was a food riot in Manchester two days ago. Troops had to be called in to restore order after the local crushers were overwhelmed. The King is not amused, and there is now open conjecture that perhaps the offers of negotiations with Heer Command may not be so bad after all, that cat having been let out of the bag by a resourceful Times reporter....who is now in prison charged with treason.
The situation west of Zhitomir has become even worse, with renewed attacks on the thin and fragile German lines. Two breaks in the German lines were only patched with difficulty, and units north and south of the fighting areas are being thinned more to send reinforcements to the Zhitomir area, as are units in Italy. Units already withdrawn and heading west are being turned around and sent to the Zhitomir area also. The few King Tiger units in the AO are being slowly worn down by attrition, and are anxiously awaiting replacements, which are on the way from the Henschel Fabrik. The Panther units have been decimated.
Refugees continue to pour in to the German lines, bringing harrowing stories of NKVD units run amok in the Zhitomir area, and fighting in many areas behind the Russian lines. Desertions have increased amongst the Russian troops also, but if caught deserters are executed on the spot. Riots are still extant throughout SSSR, and in some areas are being brutally put down by NKVD units, which has lead to some heavy fighting between the NKVD and entire regiments of the Soviet Army.
On the West Front, all is quiet at the moment. However, the veterans on both sides feel the coming storm, perhaps one last push by the Allies....or will the Germans strike first? With the denuding of the Ost Front to reinforce the West Front, in some areas the German units are almost equally matched in numbers with the Allies. And still no reply to Heer's offer of negotiations. Churchill has dug in his heals and is standing fast for unconditional surrender, a thought that is not well received by Heer, especially since Heer is rounding up with vigor many disagreeable remnants of the old regime, although many of the 'golden pheasants' have fled.
Riots continue in Manchester, and have spread to a few other cities. Leaders are being summarily shot for treason, which has lead to increased violence on the part of the rioters. One of the arrested leaders was found to be Irish after 'rigorous' interrogation before his execution, and the Government has now blamed the riots on Irish and Scottish provocateurs.
Sporadic riots also still occur in Germany, especially in Bavaria, where the 'new' government of Heer has quietly continued the call up of some 15 years old boys to the colors, a very unpopular move to say the least. However, with the virtual elimination of the Gestapo, the regular police have been using every more violent methods to stop the riots, which has led in turn to increasingly violent responses from the citizens. In some towns and cities, the Police are in a virtual state of siege in their barracks. And Hitler is no where to be found, as if he disappeared in to thin air. Heer has every available unit hunting for any trace of him, but absolutely nothing has been found.
Monty is out, seconded back home at the expressed order of Churchill, who himself faces a very uncertain political future. Monty's replacement has not been named, but for the moment the various commands are functioning as if nothing happened, and are following Ike's plans formulated before his untimely death in the accident that also killed Patton. Mark Clark is mentioned as his replacement, but nothing definite yet.
And the decision has been made. The FA3 Project prototype Tiger 1 is in transit for the Ost Front, traveling only at night and covered with a tarp, all rail lines being cleared for the train carrying him and other reinforcements, including a company of brand new King Tigers. The support echelons for the FA3 follow directly behind in another train.
The FA3 uses the spaced compressed cotton and porcelain filled armor on all hull sides, turret sides, and turret roof. The actual composition of the armor is secret. This additional armor has been tested and, when added to the already formidable armor of the standard Tiger 1, was found to be virtually impervious to known Russian, American, and British tank and anti tank gun fire. Of course, the FA3 is not omnipotent, but he is as strong a tank as has been fielded so far in the war. Needless to say, the weak points are still the drive sprockets and road wheels, in that if you can immobilize the tank, he is effectively out of the fight until repaired.
Wind, temperature, and humidity sensors have been developed and added to the test bed. The commander, gunner, and loader have been intensely trained to adjust range rapidly taking in to account the readings of the new instruments.
The Vampire Infrarot System has been considerably advanced, with two special lamps, one on the right side mantlet above the main gun, and one on the AA gun track on the commander's copula. Spares and spare mounts are carried in bins at the hull fire wall in the rear of the fighting compartment. An armored vision scope has been installed for the driver, directly in front of him in place of the now removed and plated over vision port. The standard Tiger headlight is used, but is infrarot now, not incandescent. The scope is from the King Tiger, developed by Henschel, and both rotates and tilts up and down. The two original scopes in the drivers and RO hatches are retained, and made infrarot capable, as are all the periscopes. All the scopes are powered by and fed from a central system mounted over the new transmission, which is somewhat smaller than the original trans mounted, and the room added has been used for the infrarot system and the sensor systems.
The new radio systems, Funk 23 and 25, are smaller and operate on a different wave length than the old systems. The antennas, of which there are two mounted on either side of the hull top next to the turret rear, are very short. Comparable radios are in transit on the train for Command and the company that will be assigned the FA3.
He is designed as a night fighter, will have at least two Tiger 1's and/or King Tigers in support at all times. Their crews will get rapid and rudimentary training to support the FA3, and will rarely fire themselves. Their task is to communicate to the FA3 any targets or problems, and will fire only on the orders of the FA3 CO except in dire circumstances. Funk 23 and 25 radios will be mounted in the support tanks also, albeit at the expense of ammo carried.
Main armament has been changed to the 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71. This involved extensive reworking of the mounting and recoil system of the weapon to fit the slightly smaller confines of the Tiger 1 turret, and indeed after all was said and done, it was found necessary to put a slight bulge in the turret rear armour about 40 cm deep to allow the loader sufficient space to insert the long cartridge for the weapon and for the .5 m recoil of the main tube. This bulge is plated over heavily with FA3 armour and concealed behind the turret storage bin on the rear of the turret. Main gun ammo reloads has been reduced to 49 rounds due to the increased length of the rounds for the new weapon and the addition of so much new equipment in the fighting compartment. However, this is felt to be sufficient for the FA3's role as a night hunter, using stealth and infrarot to find his victims. However, if needs be he can stand and slug it out with any adversary.
Extreme accuracy is obtained by stereoscopic sights installed above the main gun with rounded bulges in each side of the turret side right behind the main gun mantlet, and heavily armored with FA3 armor. Extensive modifications had to be done to the Zeiss system for it to fit over the reworked KwK 43 L/71 system, but it was completed, and in tests was found to be quite accurate from extreme down to knife fighting range. Infrarot was designed in to the system from the start, and feeds off the same central system as the periscopes. The main gun and sighting systems are gyro stabilized for the ability to shoot while moving.
As an added surprise, a little something was thought up by the aforementioned brilliant young designer at Henschel. While the radar fused air to air missiles were 'top secret', they were of course common knowledge between those 'in the know'. This young lad's father was instrumental in the development of the missile, and the lad happened to mention to the director of the FA3 project the possibility of perhaps, maybe, with permission, installing a similar system on the FA3. Needless to say, the lad and his father were summoned for questioning about why they were discussing State Secrets at the dinner table! However, the pressures of the project, and the elimination of certain ever suspicious elements in society in the Fatherland, allowed cooler heads to prevail, and with the help of his father, the young man designed and installed a dual launcher on the left turret side, carrying two radar fused missiles, with two reloads carried in a modified ammo rack in the hull sponson. The turret must be trained to fire the missiles at a target, and accuracy is not assured, but the prevailing wisdom is the system only has to be successful once before the word will spread like lightening amongst the Jabo pilots on all 3 fronts that the tanks now have an 'accurate' anti aircraft missile. At least, that's the thinking on this system! And our young lad, his father, and a cobbled together team of experts are working on a rudimentary radar guidance system for the missiles. Problem is size of the electronic components, but they are having at it with vigor.
So, it remains to be seen if all this effort to renovate an aging weapons platform has been worth while. However, spin offs from the development of the FA3 project are already being felt. Over half the King Tigers on the train with the FA3 have the new fuel injected Maybachs with the new variable speed transmissions. Development of steroscopic sights for the King Tiger and Panther are well advanced. The surviving Tiger 1's, numbering in the many hundreds, are in line to be upgraded if the FA3 project proves it's worth. The Panthers will be next, then the Kings.
And interestingly, an IS2 has been captured just west Zhitomir yesterday, damaged but basically intact, and it has some unusual lamps welded crudely to the turret. 4 of the crew, including the commander, survived the first rough pounce of capture, and are being interrogated as to just what these lamps and unusual equipment fitted in the IS is for, as the crew managed to trash most the devices.
SdKfz 182/3
Armament: Main: KwK 43 L/71 8.8 cm main gun, 49 rounds carried in various areas.
Sight: Zeiss M 615 b Steroscopic, Infrarot capable, gyro stabilized.
Turret traverse: Electro hydraulic, 3 speed variable, 360 degree time 10 seconds minumum to 3 minutes maximum. Secondary hand crank and gunner's fine adjustment hand crank, 5 turns = 1 degree
Secondary: 1 x MG 42 in coaxial mount next to main gun
1 x MG 42 on swivel mount commanders cupola
5500 rounds 7.92 ammo carried in various storages in turret
2 x Kralle anti aircraft missile launch tubes, 4 Kralle radar fused missiles carried.
Crew systems: All periscopes Infrarot capable, Zeiss transverse main gun sight Infrarot capable. 3 Infrarot lamps installed, one on commander's copula, one on main gun mantlet right side, one in headlight position on front upper hull plate. 6 spare lamps carried in storage bin on engine compartment fire wall
Motive sytems: Motor: Maybach V 12 HL 294 HO, fuel injected, water cooled, 23 L.
HP: 925, Bosch mechanical fuel injection system, naturally aspirated.
Transmission: Maybach Olvar Type 79, 8 fwd, 4 rev gears semi automatic
Steering: Hydraulic with manual steering levers as secondary control.
Performance: Top speed: 52 KPH
Armor: Hull front, sides, rear, turret sides and roof, supplemental FA3 spaced armor. Composition: secret, but known to be combination of compressed cotton and ceramic plates.
Equivalent Rolled homogeneous nickel-steel plate:
Hull front: 290 mm
Hull sides: 220 mm
Hull rear: 220 mm
Turret sides and rear: 245 mm
Mantlet: 325 mm
Commo sytems: Funk 23 and Funk 25 ultra short wave, range 10 kilometers minimum.
Weight: Full combat load with full fuel load: 67.3 tons
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......BUT.. How many bombs did the USA have or could they have produced ??