Monday, January 18, 2016
How to hand start a WWII Tiger tank
The hand crank starter, is the recommended way of starting a Tiger in cold weather conditions, it also has an electric starter. The hand crank turns a heavy flywheel at the rear of the engine, when it reaches a high rotation speed, a pin is pushed or pulled, this connects the spinning flywheel to the crank shaft, which spins up the Pistons thus starting the engine.
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Imagine yourself at 30 something below zero on the Russian Front where the oil in the crank case was like molasses trying to get the tank started because the Ivans were coming.
ReplyDeleteFuel allowing, the crews would start the motor and let it run for a period of time to keep the oil warm. This Tiger is the one featured in the movie "Fury." It's the only operational one in the world. And while we're on the subject, here is the world's only operational Tiger II.
ReplyDelete...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZPIRu6u2gY...
For a moment there I thought that was the county road crew... one working and 9 standing around...
ReplyDeleteThat tank from "Fury" was a "first Gen" Tiger 1 from 1942! Captured in Tunisia when it broke down. Almost impossible for the M-4 Sherman's to kill at any range. I am reminded of a story in Bill Mauldin's book "Up Front" where he recounts a Tiger 1 crossing a canal outside Anzio. 11 Sherman's went out after it. The Tiger knocked out ten of them. The last M-4 got behind it and put a round in his motor or track, I forget which. AND testing at Aberdeen in the 1960's showed that the 88MM L-71 main gun on the Tiger II could knock out the M-60 MBT at 1500 yards. They had no ball bearings, PISS poor power plants and near useless hydraulics and wiring. But they could kill anything they could see. AND: late war Tiger II and Panthers had FLIR systems. So they could kill you in the dark before you even knew they were there---Ray
ReplyDeleteInteresting, thanks Ray!
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