Yeah !
That's what I was asking -- right after Robin's first Panther pic.

Like I said in the OP , I understand why there is a lot of confusion about this .
Reading that train-wreck thread over @ Missing-Lynx the other night is what got me back to attempting to sort it out

BTW , Robin , I PM'd you my email

Right -
After further research -

A : the drawing showing the cooling airflow is wrong , it is pushed through and out just as it is described in the text .

B : Apparently , The A was fitted with a fighting compartment heater by stealing some heated air from one or both radiators on the left , with the fan blowing DOWN .( so the hot air is coming from the rectangular-grated volume (s ) )
Evidently , the ducting for this heated air interfered with the normal cooling air flow on that side of the engine where it had to squeeze past - within an already super-sealed , over-cramped and overheating environment -- so they shrouded that sides exhaust piping and took some of the supply air from that fan and pumped it around and out the back with the exhaust .

The introduction of the cooling tower for the G with necessary reversal of the fan to blow UP and I ASSUME the change in ducting / piping made the forced air cooling of that side's manifold unnecessary .

Question Mark

The engine compartment and the fan/radiator compartments are water-tight , fully separated bays - so that's the only way a crew heater using discharge air from the radiators could have an impact on the temperature of the exhaust manifold . ducting .

The fans always blew DOWN except at some point early , with the D for sure , when one fan at least was reversed to blow up to suck flammable vapors out of the engine compartment .
Then they fixed their fuel leaks and returned to the nominal both fans blowing DOWN for the A and the G - until the G was fitted with the heater tower ( or "lump " as Robin calls it ) and then that side had it's fan reversed to blow UP .
.. . and the ducting from the new tower didn't interfere with the manifold cooling on that side OR they did something in addition . ???


So -
Does anyone have any info on the A's crew heater ?

.... might as well beat this horse some more

I'm waiting on more reference material ,
But
In my Spielberger/Jentz/Doyle Jagdpanzer book ,

in reference to the Jagdpanther :



.... so May of '44 - May of 1944 - we have them . no mention of a crew heater in this book until the winter of '44 with the tower style of the G .

The other text(s) say the cooling systyem compartments are sealed to be flooded for fording
How does dust and smoke arrive ? the brakes flood too ?
No
What does this tell us about fan direction ?

That criminal drawing needs to be locked away


and this :



" new "" introduced " in winter '44
new from nothing or new compared to what was there prior ?

that description of it's operation is a bit off ,
Translation errors

It is It isn't It was It's not
We needed them we put them we deleted them they're gone

So Confusing !!

.. so the drawing jives with that description if the brake heat extraction - and evidently smoke too - conduit connects directly to the fan housing .

That removes my " push " for fan direction .
kinda important

Did the A have a heater ?
When and why were the pipes installed and removed ?


Merry Christmas

If the crew compartment heater in A drew air that has already passed through the radiator, I don't see how that could reduce efficiency of engine cooling. My understanding is the heater in A drew air directly from cooling jacket around the manifold. That was the reason for uneven cooling of the affected manifold and the need for more cooling air flow to that manifold.

Regarding reversing fan flow to suck out gasoline fumes. Wouldn't keeping the fan flow in the same down ward direction, but blowing some air into the engine compartment to force vapor out do the same trick? If the engine compartment is truly otherwise then hermetically sealed neither sucking from it nor nor blowing into it would do anything. But is there is some opening, then either blowing into it or sucking from it would help remove the vapor.

I'm not convinced there ever was a Panther tank ....


Pffftt -- IDK .

The fan would already be blowing UP if it's drawing hot air and smoke from the brakes and evidently sucking air into the twin pipes on the left to cool the exhaust .
So we're back to why the direction was reversed .

Still don't understand why that side needs the cooling jacket .

Is there a crew heater in the A ?
These two books make zero mention of it .



That was the point I made to Robin - - I'm of the opinion that if you had equipment or operating parameters that required you to design , fabricate and install all that plumbing ,, I think it should get a sentence or five of explanation .
They're gone in the G , heater or not -&- they're not on that A I posted in your thread ...

BTW -- I have a hard time believing they would draw air down across the exhaust manifold of 6 cylinders of a gas engine and pump it into the fighting compartment .
Real groovy way to chill out the crew --- permanently ,, with CO poisoning
Plus -- the drawing would show it .
The air just goes to the underside of the fan and out

Why not ask someone from the Wheatcroft Collection, they're fully restoring three Panthers.

If you look at the interaction of the men's clothes when they stand over the fans in this video you can see that the fans are both blowing up.

Just been reading Volume 2 of The Research Squads book on the Panther A restoration and it shows a drawing with text.
Looks like the fans blow up/out, sucking air in through the adjustable baffles under the rectanglar grills either side of the fan. Heated coolant circulates from the rear radiators to the front radiators.