Category: Walk-around
Leopard 2 Prototype (PT 10 / T 17). The Mystery Solved.
In this post, we’ll have a look at yet another Leopard 2 prototype. This vehicle can be found in the collection of the Musée de Blindés in Saumur, France. In contract to the prototypes discussed earlier, this one wields the 120 mm gun. During the design and trial period for the Leopard 2 tank, two…
Buffel & Kodiak – Leopard 2 Variants
On the motorway, I was pleasantly surprised by a convoy of Boxer AFVs. I could not have imagined that an even bigger surprise was waiting for me at the next lay-by. By chance, two low loaders of the Dutch army carrying specialized Leopard 2 variants were parked here. In this short post, we take a…
Haustenbeck’s Heritage: Jagdtiger 305 004’s Journey
A rare beast on any account, this particular Jagdtiger is unique in being the only surviving specimen featuring Porsche’s alternative suspension design. How did this vehicle make its way from a small town in Austria to Henschel’s proving ground in Senne to finally arrive at its final destination: the Bovington Tank Museum in the UK?…
King of the Bulge II – Engine Deck and Turret
In this part in the ‘King of the Bulge’ series, we will take a closer look at the engine deck as well as the turret. There certainly are a few interesting details to find here for the more observant viewer. Read more about the history of this Tiger in the previous article.
The Very Unfortunate Sherman
During my trip through the Ardennes last February I visited a number of tank monuments among which the M4 ‘Ginsling’ located in Wibrin. The tank was lost during a fierce battle round the town on 14 January 1945 and now stands as a memorial to the soldiers, resistance fighters and civilian casualties of The Second…
King of the bulge
One of only a handful left, this King Tiger is perhaps the best known of the lot. Located in the picturesque town of La Gleize in the Ardennes, Belgium, this is the only Tiger II visible from the public road. Because of the incredible amount of photos I have taken, I decided to split this…
The Panther: a British walk-around
As promised, here is the walk-around of Bovington’s Panther tank. According to the plaque welded to glacis, this was the 8th vehicle to be completed at the Laatzen factory under command of 823rd REME workshop. If you are interested in a comprehensive history of the post-war Panthers completed under supervision of the the British Royal…
Saumur’s “Bretagne” Panther: facts & fiction
At this year’s Tank fest, Wargaming presented the newly restored Bretagne Panther. Starting in 2017, this Panther was restored at Musée des Blindés courtesy of the publisher of World of Tanks. The reveal of the Panther tank was accompanied by a campaign “Make the Panther roar again” and the introduction of a premium in-game version…
The last of its kind: Breda Panther
In the heart of the city of Breda, the Netherlands you will find the Wilhelminapark: a quiet and calm place. You can come to peace on one of the benches around the pond, or you can, of course, walk up to the massive tank located at the corner where the roads Wilhelminapark and Paul Windhausenweg…
Tiger II – part 1
Musee de Blindes houses the only Tiger II still running today and they’re pretty proud of that. Even though by design this monster is hardly suitable to run for long marches the museum was able to keep this specimen running even after some 74 years after it first left the factory. Last weekend, the vehicle…
Leopard 2A4 “FIN”
What we have here is what I first presumed to be a Leopard 2A4FIN: the Finnish variant of the Leopard 2. It is, however, some sort of hybrid as it seems to lack all features that are typical to a Finnish Leopard. In 2002 Finland procured some 124 Leopard 2 tanks of the A4 standard…
BT-42
The Parola tank museum has a large collection of Russian tanks, some of which happen to be extremely rare — or ones that could otherwise only be found in Russia itself. One of these rare vehicles is the BT-42: a Finnish modification of the BT-7. During the Winter War and later the Continuation War, Finnish…
