Tiger II reference requested.

[jknaus]

I am going to build a Tiger II in the near future (when it arrives) and looking through books and online I found a scheme that peaked my interest. It is a tiger II with the "Porsche" turret numbered 12 of FK.1 in Kaisersteinbruch in May of 44. I am having a heck of a time finding out more about it and was hoping someone could point me in the right direction for references. I'm curious if this was in combat or at a training base and who FK.1 were exactly. Thank you for any help anyone might give me.

James

 

[RichB]

What I have found :

Kaisersteinbruch was a training area.

Panzer-Kompanie (Fkl) 316

The Panzer-Kompanie (Fkl) 316 was formed on 1 April 1943 and equipped with 10 StuG III as control vehicles. In September it was attached to Panzer-Lehr-Regiment 130 of the Panzer-Lehr Division and was reequipped with Tiger I control tanks. In January 1944 it was ordered to be reequipped with Tiger II tanks and was redesignated schwere Panzer-Kompanie (Fkl) 1. In June 1944 became the first company of Panzer-Abteilung (Fkl) 302 and left its Tiger II tanks in the Chateaudun area and was reequipped with StuG III.

Tank #12 from the company was donated by France to Sweden in 1947 where it was used for testing, ending its life being used for target practice in 1949. Its hull was scrapped but the turret remained in storage until the late 1980s when it was finally scrapped.

The "(Fkl)" in the name was for "Funklenk", a reference to the radio-controlled demolition vehicles used.



April 1943 - Formed in Eisenach
End of September 1943 - Transfer to Fallingbostel training ground and attachment to Panzerlehrregiment 130
1 February 1944 - 3 Tiger I's have been delivered when the Panzerlehrdivision requests to equip its Funklenk company with Tigers rather than StuGs
19 February 1944 - Ordered to form with Tiger IIs
14 March 1944 - Equipped with 5 Tiger IIs, but retains Tiger I's
1 June 1944 - 3 Tiger I's and 3 Tiger IIs operational
11 June 1944 - Tiger IIs handed over to crews from the Panzerlehrdivision, all Tigers lost
2 July 1944 - Transfer to Reims, redesignated as 1./Pz.Abt.(Fkl) 302 and rebuilt with StuGs

Cheers,
Rich

 

[jknaus]

Thanks Rich. I got pointed to more refs and pics and have a good idea of the unit now. Maybe I should get 4 more King Tigers and a tiger I to do the whole unit. I have pics of all of them I think. Also found this plate which is giving me ideas.

 

[jknaus]

 

[jknaus]

I was shown this page which has all the answers http://libellule.heavy.jp/site/vehicules/tigerII-FKL.html
James

 

[moon puppy]

Thanks James.

 

[Bagge]

Tank #12 from the company was donated by France to Sweden in 1947 where it was used for testing, ending its life being used for target practice in 1949. Its hull was scrapped but the turret remained in storage until the late 1980s when it was finally scrapped.

The turret was also shot up as target practice, the gun was stored at Bofors factory and scrapped just 2 weeks before the museum personal found out about it!

The engine and transmission is on display at pansarmuseet "Arsenalen"
They also have the rear hatch of the turret that was salvaged from the shooting range, there is a number of tracklinks at another museum but not on display.

Looking forward to see your build James!

Greetings Mats