So much better than OTL.
I still could see spaced armor on the turret making it look drumlike as was OTL once the IS series of tanks are seen more regularly.
Alternative History Armoured Fighting Vehicles Part 3
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I still could see spaced armor on the turret making it look drumlike as was OTL once the IS series of tanks are seen more regularly.
I usually call these types of designs "Hindsight Tanks". I should do a Time Traveler TL one of these days.
My first post on the new thread, so I'll try to do something helpful.
I watched another episode of Tank Overhaul, this time about the M18 Hellcat. As seems to be the norm, there's some useful information, isolated between sections of rubbish (for some reason, there's a lot of comparative stuff about the Abrams, which isn't the obvious choice to match up a WW2 TD against; and some not very good CGI which shows M18s slugging it out in the open field against Panthers).
Here are the bits to look for:
07.38 torsion bar suspension
08.37 claim of 53mph top road speed
10.37 some interesting (to me) stuff on CAD aid in making new components (they used cardboard prototypes to test for fit, then redid them in steel if they matched)..
15.32 ride quality
16.25 some rather confusing/incorrect info on HEAT rounds, which were widely used in WW2, but not AFAIK by the 76mm.
23.10 instrument & gauge repairs
24.20 engine, maintenance: tailgate access, engine change, oil pumps
26.40 engine access, no difficult fluids (radial)
27.33 coldness of fighting compartment - engine sucks in cold air
30.47 engine replacement & testing
31.22 drive shaft connections
32.00 engine start/ignition: need to handcrank x 50 to clear cylinders and avoid fuel fires (this must have been fun, and somewhat tactically inconvenient)
36.40 plus/minus features of open top turret
42.20 turret info: diameter 68" (presumably the turret ring); weight c5000lbs.
There's a lovely section at the end where the original WW2 commander got a ride in the restored vehicle. He died on 25/8/13, aged 95. RIP Don Breinholt.
I watched another episode of Tank Overhaul, this time about the M18 Hellcat. As seems to be the norm, there's some useful information, isolated between sections of rubbish (for some reason, there's a lot of comparative stuff about the Abrams, which isn't the obvious choice to match up a WW2 TD against; and some not very good CGI which shows M18s slugging it out in the open field against Panthers).
Here are the bits to look for:
07.38 torsion bar suspension
08.37 claim of 53mph top road speed
10.37 some interesting (to me) stuff on CAD aid in making new components (they used cardboard prototypes to test for fit, then redid them in steel if they matched)..
15.32 ride quality
16.25 some rather confusing/incorrect info on HEAT rounds, which were widely used in WW2, but not AFAIK by the 76mm.
23.10 instrument & gauge repairs
24.20 engine, maintenance: tailgate access, engine change, oil pumps
26.40 engine access, no difficult fluids (radial)
27.33 coldness of fighting compartment - engine sucks in cold air
30.47 engine replacement & testing
31.22 drive shaft connections
32.00 engine start/ignition: need to handcrank x 50 to clear cylinders and avoid fuel fires (this must have been fun, and somewhat tactically inconvenient)
36.40 plus/minus features of open top turret
42.20 turret info: diameter 68" (presumably the turret ring); weight c5000lbs.
There's a lovely section at the end where the original WW2 commander got a ride in the restored vehicle. He died on 25/8/13, aged 95. RIP Don Breinholt.
Turret ring on the M18 was 69inches, same as on the M4 Sherman, M26 Pershing, M36 Jackson, and M46 Patton. This also includes the T20/22/23/25 series of vehicles too.
The info given on the programme is "about 68 inches", which the makers will no doubt claim to be accurate enough.
Yeah, programs like that don't really put effort into that kind if thing, simply because it isn't necessary. But the turrets on all of the vehicles I mentioned are technically interchangeable, and the M36 Jackson turret was trialed on the M18 GMC, and a Pershing turret was trialed on an M4 chassis as well.
EDIT: The M6 Heavy tank also had a 69inch turret ring, and there were plans for mounting the Pershing turret on it, which would have been the M6E1 if it had been made.
In 1948 the Czech-communist party members of the Czechoslovakian government staged a successful coup of the state, all non communist Czech politicians were arrested and several prominent personalities were shot by order of the new government.
The news of the communist coup sent shock waves thru the governments of the western powers, the fear of further communist expansion in Europe was a threat taken seriously and immediate action was believed to the only acceptable solution.
In 1950 the victorious Western Allied powers encouraged (ordered) the West German government to expand and improve its military forces.
In 1952 Heinrich Kniepkamp returned from Switzerland to his native Germany and brought with him designs for a new medium panzer. In 1957 the West German government accepted the new panzer design for production and service in the Bündswehre.
Basically an earlier Leopard-I, a hybrid Swiss Pz-58 and a Leo-I. The turret and hull have sections from both tanks, the suspension is from the Pz-58 and the gun is a 90mm.
Inspired by this thread https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/post-war-german-heavy-tank.471046/
The news of the communist coup sent shock waves thru the governments of the western powers, the fear of further communist expansion in Europe was a threat taken seriously and immediate action was believed to the only acceptable solution.
In 1950 the victorious Western Allied powers encouraged (ordered) the West German government to expand and improve its military forces.
In 1952 Heinrich Kniepkamp returned from Switzerland to his native Germany and brought with him designs for a new medium panzer. In 1957 the West German government accepted the new panzer design for production and service in the Bündswehre.
Basically an earlier Leopard-I, a hybrid Swiss Pz-58 and a Leo-I. The turret and hull have sections from both tanks, the suspension is from the Pz-58 and the gun is a 90mm.
Inspired by this thread https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/post-war-german-heavy-tank.471046/
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From what I remember coming across before, when the Bundeswehr was being formed and equipment being acquired from the West, both the M103 and Conqueror were briefly considered but the idea of heavy tanks was abandoned. So for a heavy tank to be seen as necessary, there would have to be some drastic change, perhaps the Soviets publicly employing their IS-4 tanks somewhere in Europe, even if just for propaganda purposes. Given Germany was starting over from scratch, I doubt there would necessarily be a unique German design, it would most likely be either an M103 or Conqueror though.
Nice work cortz!
Nice work cortz!
I agree with you that the Germans wouldn't adopt a heavy tank, the thread that inspired this design tried to make a case for Germany doing so and I did rework an old design for it (I'll post it here later) but like you I think Germany would build a light tank, an earlier, smaller and lighter armed Leo-I.
Basically the Germans build the Pz.58 instead of Switzerland but with a German engine and a few other changes.
If an E 50 is roaming around Berlin the war has not gone in the direction Hitler intended.The old thread is dead. Long live the thread.
E-50 moving through Berlin, in a new timeline I am making
Afaik, anything that keeps the war going past late 1940/early 1941 makes it extremely dificult for Germany to win. And if it invades the USSR, then bye bye Fatherland, sooner or latter.
You should checkout this TL https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/germanwank-1928-time-travel-no-nazi-rev5.217388/
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