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Hi everybody,

I've got a mail from Wim Dirks, who got my address thanks to my Panther survivors list. He sent me photos of an unknown panther hull. Here is his message and some photos :

"Hello Pierre-Olivier,

Found another picture (somewhere on the internet last year) of a panther
hull.

Regards,
Wim."





It seems to be in a well condition...

Do anybody have any informations about this hull... Location? Who is the owner, will it be restorated??

Cheers from France

Pierre-Olivier

Sorry, I think it's better with some photos..

Pierre-Olivier

Thats very interesting, thanks for the post.

A thought came to mind when viewing the rear end photo. It appears that there are signs that the rear was subject to intense heat, perhaps it caught on fire causing its operational demise?

Would love to see more of this hull. Especially inverted. Battle damage on the top of the hull?

Don

This Panther hull you can see on Toadman site: www.toadmanstankpictur...ther_3.htm
Yes, it is now part of Mr Littlefield collection.

Marek

Mark:

Are you saying the Panther shown in first frame of this page as posted by Pierre-Olivier is the same Panther that is now at Jacques Littlefield's? A picture as found from many years ago, compared to new images from the Littlefield Vehicle Reconstructive Surgery Wards.

(And welcome aboard!)

- Maple_Leaf_Eh

Mark:

Are you saying the Panther shown in first frame of this page as posted by Pierre-Olivier is the same Panther that is now at Jacques Littlefield's? A picture as found from many years ago, compared to new images from the Littlefield Vehicle Reconstructive Surgery Wards.

(And welcome aboard!)

Yes, this is what I've been told as well. The above pictures of the turned over Panther hull were up at Wehrmacht Awards or Tanknet a few years ago under the topic "strange side fittings". Littlefields Panther hull had some peculiar side fittings with no documented use (circled in red on the picture).



I don't remember what the conclusion was, I seem to remember that it was a field modification for mounting nebelwerfers?

Cheers,
Rik

So, it clearly seems to be the Littlefield's panther. Thanks to all for your help.

Now, do somebody have some informations about this one? These photos come from Mr Fleischer's books Spuchensuche band 1 and 8.
It seems to be a Panther ausf. A hull.



Thanks for your help.

Pierre-Olivier

- the_shadock

Now, do somebody have some informations about this one? These photos come from Mr Fleischer's books Spuchensuche band 1 and 8.
It seems to be a Panther ausf. A hull.

Thanks for your help.

Pierre-Olivier

Never seen these before. Spuchensuche, would that translate to Ghosthunt? if the hull pictured was salvaged in Germany a wild guess would be that it is now at WTS Koblenz.

Cheers,
Rik

- Rikard_Hufschmied

Spuchensuche, would that translate to Ghosthunt?

"Geisterjagd" would be a more fitting translation for "Ghosthunt"

and "Spuchensuche" would be something like "Spooksearch"


fled

Pierre-Olivier & Rik,

well, that Panther wreck seen in the "Spurensuche"(*) booklet is ... *drums*... Mr. Littlefield's too/again!

It was recovered from a pond in Poland [first 2 'upsidedown' pix in this thread + the b&w ones from "Spurensuche"], then sat in the backyard of a privately-owned German museum [thus not the WTS!] for about 10 years [the colour 'scrapyard' image posted by Rik], until it had been purchased by Littlefield.

Remember that its original turret was destroyed and later re-assembled as a jigsaw-puzzle - that's well visible in the photos. Of course, it now has a brandnew one...

*BTW, here's a better translation for the German word "Spurensuche": "search for relics". Official link for Band 1: http://www.shop-editor.de/cgi-bin/podzun-pallas/shop/...

Hope this helps.

Regards,
André Flener

Merci André.. une énigme résolue..

Thanks André, one more solved enigma..

Pierre-Olivier