Rick W Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 Just watched (again) Band of Brothers episode Carentan. In the sequence where our BOB's get attacked first thing in the morning from the hedge on the hill there is a German tank I dont recognise. It is the heavy tank which is taken out by the 2 infantrymen using a PIAT. Does anyone know what it is? :dunno: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghasp! Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 Actually they're using a bazooka, not a PIAT (that spring powered :schocked: masterful piece of British engineering). Can't remember off hand what the vehicle was supposed to be, I'll have to check tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodge Deep Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 I think it's supposed to be a Stug Assault Gun. If i can get the cogs spinning in my moday morning brain... i think it was built on an extended APC chassis 432? It, (or one very like it was a W&P a few years ago). If you look closely you can see that the spare track links on the left are fibreglass or wood and are stuck on and provide the vision slots for the driver! Still an impressive peice of kit when you satnd next to it though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snapper Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 Yes this is the 432 based StuG III, as seen at Beltring with the "Jagdpanther" T-62/T-55 until recently. The 432 seems to be ideal for conversions and I remember seeing a website where some Jap tanks were built from them for an Aussie tv series. Quality items. I know of an american serviceman looking to buy a 432 to build a StuG III. Don't know how far he got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 The Aussie built Jap tanks were based on FV434s. Such a waste, they are the most useful and sought after of the 430 series. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snapper Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Really? What a shame. Was there something specific about the 434 that made it ideal. I would have thought the general layout and wheel arrangement would have been no different. I don't know anything about the 434. Have you seen anything of the "new" FV430 Mk3 Bulldogs recently arrived in Iraq. They have no engines and transmissions plus air con and a fancy gun mount. I imagine there is very little room for the dismounts. Apprarently it can make a complete turn within it's own body length. I used to know a girl from Tottenham who could do that for a few Southern Comforts and a kebab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirhc Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 Apprarently it can make a complete turn within it's own body length. I know why they make such a big thing about this (even though almost all other tracked vehicles can do it!) as I have tried to turn a 432 Mk 2 about in a crampt space and it is no fun! The original 430 vehicles could not perform a neutral turn, so to turn it around in a confined space involved a 3,5,10 point turn! I posted a link with the info on the Mk 3 somewhere else on the forum. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienFTM Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 I know why they make such a big thing about this (even though almost all other tracked vehicles can do it!) as I have tried to turn a 432 Mk 2 about in a crampt space and it is no fun! The original 430 vehicles could not perform a neutral turn, so to turn it around in a confined space involved a 3,5,10 point turn! I posted a link with the info on the Mk 3 somewhere else on the forum. Chris I never knew that. When I did CVR(T) D&M training in 1976, I was told that the neutral turn was a "feature" (in the computer industry we call an undocumented feature a bug. Conversely, a properly-documented bug can be sold as a feature. But that's another story) of the Merritt-Brown gearbox design (or was it Merritt-Wilson - or was that a final drive design?) that went all the way back to the Great War and nobody could work out why: it just did. And the Merritt-Brown system was universal in all tanks. Of course, this word of mouth could be entirely flawed, urban myth, popular misconception or whatever. I suppose since the 432 wasn't a tank, technically my instructor wasn't wrong in this case. Did the 430 series have an unusual gearbox design then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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