Inside The Chieftain's Hatch: Panther II 

Mines dubbed in german and I cant change it to english

@worldoftanksofficialchannel it is now in German

Mine is in German with Polish and Russian the only other choices.

​@@MrTdg2112yeah same here. My German is too rusty to keep up.

Yep same issue here hehe, oops.

Some people say (and there is a video about it) that it's buried somewhere in England in a scrap yard.

They should dig it up!@@Tirpitz-lv2kt

@@spe-notapopularytbersus1237 to be fair, you never know. Could be possible, who knows.

@@Tirpitz-lv2ktthat would be a T95 moment for sure if true

E100 wasn't complete anyway. No turret.

Glad you enjoyed it ! - Ser_Remseldorf

It would be a decent museum if it had a Goliath.

​@@fishingthelist4017decent? It's fantastic

@@CAPDude44 that was a nod to The Chieftain and his comments in his high speed tours of various armor museums and how every museum seemed to have a Goliath. Surprisingly, this great armor museum doesn't have one. When I asked the curator where the Goliath was, he laughed like he knew why I was asking because I am sure he is familiar with The Chieftain's videos.

T95

its open a couple times a year. I was there last week. well worth the trip.

Just went through tanker OSUT, you go twice as part of training. They have some amazing things there. King Tiger, the Panther 2, (I nerded out so hard) and THE m18 black cat

As the Cheiftan mentioned the Panther II was a testbed for improvements, and some of those optimisations went into Ausf G (like the rearragement of stuff on the engine deck). I think the biggest improvement that didn't make it, however, was the commonality of components between the Panther and Tiger II ... at that stage of the war Germany could ill-afford a myriad of parts for its various - and various *models* of - war machines (Messerschmitt was also under orders around the same time to rationalise the Me109 to fix this problem) but as always it's a balance of evils. In this case, minimising disruption to production trumped the longer-term gain of simpler logistics.

@@DenKHK Also keep in mind its not just disrupting production but that you have to REPLACE all the old vehicles to simplify the logistics. Having a new Panther using Tiger II parts does not mean the old Panthers also switch, they still use old parts and still need those produced to sustain operations. This was a problem the Germans faced with halftracks. They tried to reduce the amount of halftracks types but they only doubled it instead as the new ones were never in enough supply to replace the old ones. This would be especially bad with panthers because Panthers went to normal panzer divisions. Tiger IIs went to independent heavy tank battalions. Their logistic lines are largely separate on the lower echelon levels. If the panthers were a mixed of new and old, suddenly the logistics of the panzer divisions gets complicated with two different spare parts requirement. Lastly, Germany may simply not be able to produce enough of a single component to sustain more than one or two tank types. This is seen with engines. Specific engines were strictly allowed for only bombers or fighters, or tanks. It would seem logical for every vehicle to use the same engine for a common component but the production for any of the single engines simply could not meet the demand. The alternative would require retooling and completely new factories. It simply wasn't black-and-white situation. Parts commonality isn't always better, its very circumstantial and nuanced. Ideally parts commonality are established BEFORE the design enters service and not during war. So that the supply chain and manufacturing base establishes itself to meet the increased demand, and that all vehicles are uniform from the start and do not need to replace non-standardized vehicles from the fleet(which require sustainment)

@@neurofiedyamato8763 Very valid points and makes perfect sense. Although I was aware of some of the facts you mentioned - particularly the separate assignments between SPzAbt and panzer divisions and the aircraft engines - I failed to put 2 and 2 together to realise how the circumstances which these facts illustrate would also cause major problems in the case of Panther II. Thank you for the enlightenment!

In most German Tanks, getting out was no Problem. Tank Crews were highly Trained, and keeping them alive was prefered.

@@Jargolf86 The Panther in particular, was a death trap. "Maybe" the tank commander could get out. Everyone else inside was screwed. There's actually some video of a Panther tank crew burning alive as they fight to get out of the single turret hatch (and failing) that is pretty famous.

Remembering the M3 Stuart, and was it the Cromwell he tried that in?

Comet best Cooker, Hands down. No Way out for the Driver.@@mikereger1186

video of Pnther crew in Cologne getting out pretty quickly.

Really? What's your story?

I saw the tank during a visit to the states in 2000. I also managed to take in the Air Force Museum and Wright Pattinson(?) Museum on the same trip. I was also close to the twister that hit Xenia so the trip was quite eventful (also went to the F1 race at the Indy track).

I second that.

Same! One of the King Tiger (Captured) - Ser_Remseldorf

@@WorldOfTanksOfficialChannel yeah that would be awesome!

Diesels can be started simply with high pressure air by altering valvetrain and applying pressure on 2 or 4 cylinders. Otto (petrol) engine would explode, carburator would pop off. They need starter with vane air motor and gearbox and clutch, expensive and complicated for 1940s.

air starter sounds nice but how long does T34 needs to pump up both bottles ?

@@michaelpielorz9283 They are pumped to medium pressure in few minutes while engine is running. If for some reason start fails, 3-4 startings are possible with one charge. Normal electric starter is also present and seldom used on cold engines. Pressure transfer from tank to tank is also possible if for some reason air cylinders are empty. T72 also continues these features till today.

That T-34 was not a war production model. War models did not have the wedge

He is making that vehicle quite roomy.

Some sources (Jensen/Doyle ie) say the final drives and steering brakes from Tiger II would have been used.

@@mbr5742 Correct, Doyle mostly stated this method was used to fasten and ease the production. This also birth the E series

We learn something everyday 😁- Ser_Renmseldorf

@@dronn_ -fasten- speed up FTFY

@@peasant8246 Thanks a lot for the grammar correction!

It wouldn't have made it into a book written by German tankers because it never made it into production (and thus, never made it into combat service): the sole existant Panther II hull is the lone prototype made.

@@zanaduz2018Most tankers probably never even knew this existed as a concept

Because it wasn't used in combat, why are they going to write about it?

Because the writers of some books had talked about some of the new tanks that were being developed for the Eastern Front but had not been delivered yet? @@justforever96

Or just as likely, they painted that Tiger in the colors of a famous Tiger from the war, and you also chose that scheme for your model. You think most of these vehicles are just wearing the paint they actually wore in service?

Interesting i was wondering if it was a Walter Christie invention

It ran as recently as 1988

I know that getting tanks to run is not high on the list of priorities for the collection, but it would be fun to see runners at their open houses. Maybe a runner or two would be good for community outreach, especially if they had veteran tankers or interested civilians helping to get the tanks into running condition.

@@fishingthelist4017 Most of the Patton museum's inside vehicles were runners/drivers and they used to put them on parade during Patton Days in June.

@@drewschumann1 there are a lot of retired Army veterans in and around Columbus. Finding some who will want to start getting those runners back into shape wouldn't be too hard. Money would be an issue, but fundraising could cover that. Start with that obnoxious duck on Wynnton Road.

Someone loves stronk turrets 😃-Ser_Remseldorf

Muisch lai amo an Daitschn zuilousn wenna insra Werto sogg. xD

😆@@Luca-gj4yi

Glad you enjoyed it!

They had to stop using it as the engine had caught fire. An old family friend, who was my godfather, got to crew it back then. He passed away in 2021 but I remember him and his pictures of him reenacting on the 4th of July shows.

@@qui-gon-jim8463 I do remember it having fires from time to time. I think the fuel system was pretty leaky.

The Panther II being reviewed is the running Panther. It caught fire because it had a positive displacement fuel pump that pumped fuel out of the exhaust during starting. I manned the fire extinguisher in 1988 in preparation for Patton days that year

@@drewschumann1 @qui-gon-jim8463 @edwardstd52 Do any of you have any images or video footage of it from these events or know where I can find any?

There’s a few 1970s color photos online

It gets even more interesting - the pattern is different on the opposite side. The gap on the other side is between the third and second to last

The turret is a standard Panther and doesn't really match the hull.