Walkaround vol.20: Sd.Kfz 182 Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf B Henshel turret

Subject: Sd.Kfz 182 Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf B henshel turret.

Location: Musée des Blindés, Saumur, France, 2015.

Comments:Tiger II is the common name of a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B, often shortened to Tiger B. The ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 182. It is also known under the informal name Königstiger (the German name for the '''Bengal tiger'''), often translated literally as Royal Tiger, or somewhat incorrectly asKing Tiger by Allied soldiers.The Tiger II was the successor to the Tiger I, combining the latter's thick armor with the armor sloping used on the Panther medium tank. The tank weighed almost 70 metric tons, and was protected by 100 to 180 mm (3.9 to 7.1 in) of armor to the front. It was armed with the long barreled 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71 gun. The chassis was also the basis for the Jagdtiger turretless tank destroyer.The Tiger II was issued to heavy tank battalions of the Army (Schwere Heerespanzerabteilung – abbreviated s.H.Pz.Abt) and the Waffen-SS (s.SS.Pz.Abt). It was first used in combat with s.H.Pz.Abt. 503 during theNormandy campaign on 11 July 1944; on the Eastern Front, the first unit to be outfitted with Tiger IIs was the s.H.Pz.Abt. 501, which by 1 September 1944 listed 25 Tiger IIs operational. The only working example is displayed at the Musée des Blindés, Saumur, France

Walkaround vol.19: M4 Sherman cast hull with HVSS

Subject: M4 Sherman tank with cast hull and Horizontal volute spring suspension (HVSS)

Location: Musée des Blindés, Saumur, France, 2015

Comments: When the Sherman Tank was initially created, it was designed around US theory about how medium tanks, and full-track armored vehicles in general, should be utilized on the battlefield. In US doctrine, the medium tank's job was to assist infantry in the assault and provide a base of fire to fight from. Taking on enemy tanks were the job of purpose-built tank destroyers. The UK, which was a major user of the Sherman, differed in doctrine - tanks were expected to engage enemy tanks.The wide array of special duties that a tank could be used for were just being explored by armies around the world in the early 1940s. Theories of what vehicles were supposed to be engaging enemy tanks changed as vehicles like the Shermans often found themselves up against enemy armor, and consequently some of the most important initial changes centered around upgunning the basic vehicle. Improving the vehicles mobility, protection, and creating specific variants for infantry support roles soon followed. Similar modification of the main armament would be done by the British who received a number of Shermans during the course of the war. Turning earlier variants of the Sherman into Armored Personnel Carriers or "Kangaroos" was also common, as was turning them into recovery vehicles. This tank displays the cast hull of a M4A1, but is up gunned with a 76mm cannon and the later suspension, the Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension that offered a more confortable ride o the crew. It was designated M4A1E8 or M4A1(76)W HVSS.

Weapons walkaround vol.8: V2

Subjecy: V2

Location: Deutches Museum, Munich, Germany, 2012; Museum of science and technology, London, Great Britain, 2013; RAF Museum, London, Great Britain, 2013; USAF Museum, Dayton, Ohio, USA 2014,

Comments: The V-2 (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, "Retribution Weapon 2"), technical name Aggregat-4 (A4), was the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile with liquid-propellant rocket engine was developed during the Second World War in Germany as a "vengeance weapon", designed to attack Allied cities as retaliation for the Allied bombings against German cities. The V-2 rocket was also the first man-made object to cross the boundary of space. Beginning in September 1944, over 3,000 V-2s were launched by the German Wehrmacht against Allied targets during the war, firstly London and later Antwerp and Liège. According to a 2011 BBC documentary, the attacks resulted in the deaths of an estimated 9,000 civilians and military personnel, while 12,000 forced laborers and concentration camp prisoners were killed producing the weapons. As Germany collapsed, teams from the Allied forces—the U.S., Great Britain and the Soviet Union—raced to capture key German manufacturing sites and examples of German guided missiles, rocket and jet powered aircraft. Wernher von Braun and over 100 key V-2 personnel surrendered to the Americans. Through a lengthy sequence of events, a significant portion of the original V-2 team ended up working for theUS Army at the Redstone Arsenal. The US also captured enough V-2 hardware to build approximately 80 of the missiles. The Soviets gained possession of the V-2 manufacturing facilities after the war and proceeded to re-establish V-2 production and move it to the Soviet Union. The Redstone team, led by von Braun, was transferred to NASA on its formation in October 1958. For NASA this new Marshall Spaceflight Center (MSFC) helped design a series of booster rockets in the Saturn family. (ref: wikipedia)