while i was looking up an answer for a different thread i noticed something. i'm unable to find a single tank or other AFV except for the elefant TD where pocsche was the lead manufacturer. nothing. turrets and other parts yes but no tanks. am i missing something? you would think that a company like porsche would have been in the thick of it. i have found indications that some of their designs left something to be desired and that they did often submit plans or prototypes but somebody else seemed to end up with the job. so what did they do? were they a sub contractor or what?
Porsche's most famous design was rejected by the Western allies when they saw the drawings after the war. AFAIK it the GMC chairman who said it would never sell - VW Beetle. OTOH the VK3001(H) was fitted with an 88 and used as an SP mount, but not many, less than a handful I think. Oli
Judging the lack of success of any of Porsche's military designs, could we safely say that as a designer of tanks and armoured vehicles he just wasn't good enough?
looking at the toger designs, I got the impression that the porsche designs were just not suitable in war conditions. They were innovative and ahead of their time and therefore expensive and complex. Germany needed cheap and cheerful to roll of the production line in numbers and at low cost. FNG
In 1942 there were plans to send several Tiger (P) models to N Africa because it was thought the air-cooled engines would be more suitable for a hot climate. However, technical difficulties meant that the five completed models were only used for training duties in Germany. By the time the electric drive problems had been addressed there was a shortage of copper for the motors. Post war, Porche were the design lead for Leapard 1 and make the more recent weasel air portable 'tank', so at least they have got something right.
