French Panthers & Spanish '88's

Discussion in 'Weapons, Technology & Equipment' started by von Poop, Mar 2, 2006.

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  1. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Spanish designation FT-44

    Bod, you're a star.
    Just stopping another little wave of those pesky spam-bots from getting anywhere near the place and I'll be right on it.
     
    von Poop, Dec 5, 2007
    #41
  2. Bodston

    Bodston Little Willy

    There is a 'walkaround' of the Trubia FT-44 Español preserved at the Museo de Almeida de Santa Cruz de Tenerife. On this Spanish modelling site
     
    Bodston, Dec 6, 2007
    #42
  3. Bodston

    Bodston Little Willy

    Looks like an interesting Spanish book review here. Pity it's in Finnish!
     
    Bodston, Dec 6, 2007
    #43
  4. Arsenal vg-33

    Arsenal vg-33 Member

    Found a little more on the French Panthers from Spielberger:
    In 1947 a Battalion of the 503rd Armoured Regt. in Mourmelon were outfitted with 50 Panthers.
    Additional Vehicles, including Bergepanthers and Jagdpanthers stationed at Satory & Bourges.


    Interesting...I found this little exerpt from a Wikipedia page on the French heavy tank ARL 44, produced immediately after the war, which supports your statement:

    "The ARL 44s equipped the 503e Régiment de Chars de Combat stationed in Mourmelon le Grand and before the end of 1950 replaced seventeen Panther tanks used earlier by that unit. The ARL 44 made only one public appearance, ten vehicles participated in the Bastille Day parade on 14 July1951. When the American M47 Patton became available, which type also had a 90 mm gun, they were phased out in 1953 and used as targets. An ARL 44 can be seen in the Musée des Blindés in Saumur."

    More on the ARL 44 can be found with an interesting tid-bit about the use of captured German Maybach engines to power it.

    ARL 44 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
     
    Arsenal vg-33, Dec 6, 2007
    #44
    Gerard likes this.
  5. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Cheers chaps, all good stuff that might take me closer to that elusive shot of an 88 in service long after the war's end. Very nice to slowly build up a better picture of the Panthers too... Somehow can't imagine they were ever used for a Bastille parade even if nothing else was available. The replacement 44's and Pattons must have been something of a relief for the ceremonials...

    (Never thought the ARL44 looked 'right'... never noted the Maybach thing either, the hunt continues for a decent book on French tanks)
     
    von Poop, Dec 6, 2007
    #45
  6. Jan7

    Jan7 Senior Member

    Jan7, Dec 6, 2007
    #46
    von Poop likes this.
  7. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    More great stuff Jan, so there are slight differences between the '44' and a standard '88'.


    I don't suppose your linguistic skills could Google up a picture of one being crewed in Postwar Spanish service could they? -_-

    Cheers,
    Adam.
     
    von Poop, Dec 6, 2007
    #47
  8. Jan7

    Jan7 Senior Member

    I don't suppose your linguistic skills could Google up a picture of one being crewed in Postwar Spanish service could they? -_-

    Cheers,
    Adam.

    Snifff, snifff, (I'm crye) Nothing, nothing, nothing. %-(
    http://perso.wanadoo.es/padron/artilleria/index5.html

    [​IMG]
    <TABLE width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD id=E>Cañón (D) 88/56 Flak 18.







    </TD></TR><TR><TD id=F>Cañón (D) 88/56 Flak 36.</TD></TR><TR><TD id=G>Cañón (E) 88/56 FT - 44.


    .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-




    </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
     
    Jan7, Dec 7, 2007
    #48
  9. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Thanks for looking mate.
     
    von Poop, Dec 7, 2007
    #49
  10. Jan7

    Jan7 Senior Member

    Jan7, Dec 7, 2007
    #50
  11. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Owen, Dec 22, 2007
    #51
  12. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Some googling around captured Tigers 'Bretagne' & 'Colmar' as mentioned and depicted on this thread lead to this page with pictures of captured German gear including Tiger & Stugs going to evaluation by the French. Collected by a unit called 'escardron Besnier' (chap's name) :
    Translated version of http://tiger1.info/saumur/topo/text.html
    texte

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    So that's 80% of known contemporary 'French' Tiger shots, leaving one out there somewhere of a Tiger II.

    Cheers,
    Adam.
     
    von Poop, Jun 23, 2008
    #52
  13. Bodston

    Bodston Little Willy

    Chanced upon another post-war French Panther picture.

    DSC00791.JPG
    [​IMG]

    on the back of a 12-ton 6X4 Willème tractor and Codor 50-ton Semi-Trailer combo. They did not enter service until 1946.
     
    Bodston, Nov 18, 2008
    #53
    von Poop likes this.
  14. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Very nice.
    Where from?
     
    von Poop, Nov 18, 2008
    #54
  15. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Interesting to note that they were used in the reduction of the St. Nazaire pocket. Wonder how the defenders felt having to face a Tiger themselves - be interesting to see any AAR's that might exist for Escadron Besnier although none probably ever existed.
     
    Gerard, Nov 18, 2008
    #55
  16. Bodston

    Bodston Little Willy

    Very nice.
    Where from?

    'The Observer's Military Vehicles Directory, From 1945' by Bart H. Vanderveen
    who else.
     
    Bodston, Nov 18, 2008
    #56
  17. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Drew5233, Nov 18, 2008
    #57
  18. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Gerard, Nov 18, 2008
    #58
  19. James S

    James S Very Senior Member

    [​IMG]

    I took this one two years ago at the Tank Museum in Saumur,
    as far as I am aware she was in service in the French Army.
    She awaits her turn to go through the workshop.
     
    James S, Nov 18, 2008
    #59
  20. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Some notes on that particular G:
    This tank served in the 112th Panzer Brigade and participated to the Battle of Dompaire in September 1944. Two Panthers were lost
    by the 112th, captured by the 2ème Division Blindée (French 2nd Armored Division) and sent to Paris to be exposed in front of the

    Invalides. In 1976, they were transferred to Saumur.
    http://the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_Panthers.pdf
    Seems to have been sat outside Saumur for years, wonder if they've got around to doing anything with it more recently... They 'gave' one Panther to a British collector a year or two ago.
     
    von Poop, Nov 18, 2008
    #60
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