Growl of the Panther Tank

[cyberia]

An excellent close up of a Panther D taken in France, 1944

The Panther tank was developed as a direct response to the Soviet T-34. German tank commanders were shocked when on 23 June 1941, they first encountered the Soviet T-34. The Russian tank with a new slopped armor design to deflect rounds, outclassed the existing Panzer IV and Panzer III in terms of protection.
A special tank assessment team was dispatched to the Eastern Front to inspect captured and destroyed T-34s. As a result, into the on-going evolution of competing armor, the Panther was born.

A Panther Ausuhrung D moves through a town in Italy in 1944

Weighing in at 44.8 tonnes and with a gun forward length of 8.66 m, the Panther was maned by a five man crew and protected by armor ranging from 15 to 120 mm.
Its main gun was the formidable 7.5 cm KwK 42 L/70 with 79 rounds, and secondary arms two 7.92 mm Maschinengewehr 34 with 5,100 rounds.
The Panther's engine was the V-12 petrol Maybach HL230 P30 and its suspension double torsion bar with interleaved designed road wheels.

A rear view of the Panther D

Production figures for the Panther are as follows:
Ausf. D: 842
Ausf. A: 2,192
Ausf. G: 2,953 (3/44 to 4/45)
Befehlspanzer Panther: 329 Converted
Beobachtungspanzer Panther: 41 Converted
Bergepanther: 347

[lufttiger]

IMO the best Medium tank of WW2

[cyberia]

Originally Posted by lufttiger

IMO the best Medium tank of WW2

Agreed. And one of my favorite kits to build.

[lufttiger]

Speaking of the kit of the Panther, have you ever seen a Panther with those
big stove pipes on top of it exhaust pipes?
Not sure what they were for, or even exsisted, but would like to build a kit
with them, only i've never seen one with them.

[McCoy]

The function of 'em was to dampen the exhaust flames but I don't think that they were used that much n' that they also tended to fall off.

[cyberia]

McCoy's right on all points. If I can find a photo of one I can send it you for scratch building.

[lufttiger]

Thanks guys, i thought they looked pretty cool.

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by lufttiger

Speaking of the kit of the Panther, have you ever seen a Panther with those
big stove pipes on top of it exhaust pipes?
Not sure what they were for, or even exsisted, but would like to build a kit
with them, only i've never seen one with them.

Rear end photos are not that easy to find, and those that I saw all looked looked like what cyberia posted.

BTW, if you've never seen it, Achtung Panzer ! is well worth a visit.

[McCoy]

A PzKpfw V Ausf. G



A PzKpfw V Ausf. G Späte



A PzKpfw V Ausf. G Fruhe



As you can see there's som trouble to locate pictures of late configration Ausf. G Panthers flammendämpfern.

[cyberia]

They are hard to find, but I have a pretty good panzer library here. Let me do some digging.