I thought I saw that all late panther A’s had zim. I saw a photo the other day of a command late model A with no zim. Did I missinturpret something?
See my post a few posts below for a reference photo location.
Well, all of the panther A’s except the first 4 or 5 had zimmerit. How did you tell that it was a late a?
I think Kris has a point. Are you sure it was an “A”?
The most obvious difference to me about a Late A is the ball mounted machine gun in the front of the tank as oppossed to a firing slit.
yes, it might have been an early G
Then you need to check the side of the tank, for it had a slanted look as oppossed to the armor over the gas tank. Also the most obvious feature was the elmination of the driver’s vision port that was replaced with a persiscope.
If you have the book TANKS IN DETAIL, PzKpfw V Ausf A,D&G By Jonathan Forty turn to page 26. Ball MG, drivers vision port on the front slope. The caption says “Panther Ausf A Panzerbefehlswagen 116 Panzer Lehr Division”. I can see the interlocking weld joints and the raised ridge that runs around the edge of the ball MG mount where it meets the front slope. Looks like it was a rainy day and the exterior of the tank has a smooth sheen. Am I mistaken?
a major different with A and G version is the slope armour driver windows .Where G version have that deleted . The different also can see in the exhaust where A version have 4 pipe where G have only 2
Gjek,
OK now its a riddle, let’s solve it. If it is a "late A’ it will have the monocular gunsite (one hole on left side of mantlet). Also, if you can see the welds, especially around the ball mount to the front slope, it looks like you might have an exception to the rule here. If there is some way you can scan this pic, it would be great, you’ve really got my curiosity peaked!
Steve
I have this book and I originally thought that also, but someone else pointed out to me that this pic is the pic of the rebuilt Panther II01 taken in B/W and is NOT an actual pic of a Panther A during WWII. Another clue is that there are color photos of this exact same tank on the books cover…[;)]
Zimmirit was discontinued in Oct of 1944. Although it was still used unoficially.
Ahh Hah! Riddle solved, we’re back to the old addage “don’t believe everything you read in a reference book”. A rebuilt tank characterized as a service one. HMMMM I don’t think I’ll be purchasing that book.
Thanks. I thought I found the holy grail!!!