Coelian anti-aircraft tank

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Flak tank "Coelian"
"Panther" armored hulls were the basis of the Coelian

"Panther" armored hulls were the basis of the Coelian
General properties
crew 5 men
length 8.86 m
width 3.43 m
height 2.95-3.10 m
Dimensions 43–45.5 t
Armor and armament
Armor 15-120 mm
Main armament 37 mm "Flakzwilling 341" later 55 mm twin cannon
Secondary armament 1 × 7.92mm MG 42
agility
drive Maybach HL 230 P 45
515 kW (700 hp)
suspension Torsion bar
Top speed 46 km / h
Power / weight 15.4-16.3 hp / ton
Range 170 km

The German Flakpanzer Coelian was a design model from the Rheinmetall company with two 3.7 cm anti -aircraft cannons in a closed tower on the hull of the V Panther armored vehicle .

After the Battle of Britain and the massive losses of the German Air Force during Operation Barbarossa  - especially during the Battle of Stalingrad and after the USA entered World War II  - the German Air Force was increasingly put on the defensive. As a result, the threat posed by enemy fighter-bomber associations to the German Wehrmacht increased.

As a consequence, the high command of the Wehrmacht gave the order to design an anti-aircraft tank based on the chassis of the Panther, which should take the changes of the war into account. The Rheinmetall company then developed the "Coelian" tower, in different versions, as the OKW kept making new demands and modern versions of the conventional anti-aircraft cannons had to be installed. Therefore there were several versions for a tower with the same code designation. A dummy was made, but there was no (series) production because in May 1944 the turret was to be designed for a 5.5 cm instead of the intended 3.7 cm cannon.

Once again the production of this drawing board tank could not start because the landing in Normandy by the Allies , the increasing strategic bomber offensive of the Allies and the scarcity of raw materials delayed construction. After all, a wooden model with the desired 5.5 cm twin cannon was set up around mid-February 1945.

As similar developments based on the Panzerkampfwagen IV , the following variants are mentioned in the literature:

Technical specifications

  • Classification: Flak tanks
  • Armament:
    • 37mm and later 55mm twin cannon
    • 1 × 7.92 mm MG 42
  • Armor:
    • 110 mm front
    • 40 mm laterally
  • Weight: Unknown
  • Engine: twelve-cylinder Maybach HL 230 P 45 gasoline engine
  • Speed:
    • Road: 46 km / h
    • Terrain: 24 km / h
  • Crew: 5
  • Number of pieces: 1 PzKw V Panther with a wooden model of the turret for 37 mm anti-aircraft twin

literature

  • Fritz Hahn: Weapons and Secret Weapons of the German Army 1933–1945. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1998, ISBN 3-7637-5915-8 .
  • Walter J. Spielberger: The Panzerkampfwagen IV and its varieties. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1975, ISBN 3-87943-402-6 .
  • Rudolf Lusar: The German weapons and secret weapons of the 2nd world war and their further development. JF Lehmann, 1964.

Web links

Commons : Flakpanzer Coelian  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files