Hiya. Got a kit of the Tiger II w/Henschel in 1/72 recently and want too make it a version used by the post-war Swiss Army to train ARV crews in vehicular recovery operations at some point. My main question is were there any major or minor modification made by the Swiss on these vehicles in their army?
You may have already seen this description, there was only one vehicle;
“The Swiss obtained a Tiger II after the war as a gift from France. By the 1950s, the vehicle was being used as a recovery aid for the army. Bearing Serial number 280215, the tank is known to have been built in mid-1944 and eventually delivered to s.Pz.Abt.506 in the first two weeks of September 1944. Its combat history is unknown and there is no combat damage to the vehicle, although it is lacking the Zimmerit which would have been on the original vehicle.
In 2006, this Tiger II was placed on permanent loan from the Swiss Army to the collection at Thun. Currently undergoing a complete restoration process from the ground-up, this vehicle will eventually be operable under its own power.”
Tiger II being used for recovery training in Switzerland, 1956.
Thanks. Do you know what the ARV’s in the background are? They look like Centerion based models.
From Wikipedia;
The Centurion Mk II ARV consisted of a basic tank hull with a box-like superstructure in place of the turret. This accommodated the winch and a separate winch engine, a 160 hp Rolls Royce B80. The winch engine powered a generator providing electric power to the winch. The cable emerged from the back of the winch housing and a rear mounted spade gave stability whilst winching. The vehicle was used by Australia, India, Israel, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland as well as the United Kingdom.
The first prototype of the Centurion Mk II ARV was developed by the Fighting Vehicles Research and Development Establishment as the ARV FV 4006 and completed in 1952–53. After user trials, the first production vehicles were completed by Vickers at Elswick in 1956–57. Some Mk 2’s used the hulls of former gun tanks or tugs but most were newly built as ARVs.
From 1956 to 1960, the Swiss army bought 30 Entpannungspanzer 56 Centurion. These were used until 1991 with the numbers M + 78601 to M + 78630. In 1988 the first ten vehicles were scrapped.
First WIP post. Here are the assemblies so far:
Next we have a test fit of the assemblies:
Not much right now, but its late and I must sleep. [|-)]
Interesting subject Max, I look forward to seeing more.
Tiger II is looking good.