Have a Panther D heading my way. Planning on doing a 5th SS befehlspanther. Decal options are R** and II **. Would the R series be the Regiment Stabs and II = Batt.? c

Yes.

That was TOO easy. It must be a trap! What is the antenna fix on the Regimental Stabs rigs? Near as I can figure it is 4.5 foot rod, 4.5 foot star on the rear deck and 6 foot air band one on the turret. Batt. stabs is the same, minus the air band. That sound right. Also, found a photo of R02 and it says it is the Regt. CO. Id think his would be R01. R01 in the shop that day? Keeping the Soiet AT gunners guessing?

Now, I thought this would be easy enough to find out, but .... what would the ranks be for Regt. and Batt. COs be?

A trap?



I know most of the antenna were about 2 meters; haven't studied up on that subject.

Vehicle numbering had some variance as far as I can tell. Sometimes due to odd numbers of vehicles or to throw off the enemy so they couldn't target lead vehicles as easily.

I stumbled into a photo of a 15th Panzer D with braces for the commander's hatch.(Something to do with the hinge getting sprung when left open while moving, especially cross country.) Was that a 15th Panzer thing only or was it widely used?

On paper the assigned rank for the Regt commander in the WSS would be Standartenfuehrer and the Abt Cmdr would be Obersturmbahnfuehrer but due to high officer casualty rates this varied wildly. Very common at the wars' end for a Sturmbannfuhrer to be the Regt Cmdr and a Hauptst or even Obersturmf to be an Abt cmdr. You really have to focus on a single unit and find out who was in charge at a specific time,etc.
J

I'm also planning a Befelspanther D, anyone have good photos/diagrams etc of the antenna mounts and other external changes from the standard Panther D. Are they effectively the same as on the A, or other changes to be aware of? Also does anyone make a conversion set for the Befelspanther D, not found one yet.

I doubt there is a conversion set for a Befehls panther. only real changes outside were the antennas. I ordered up a set from Orange Hobby with a standard rod and a star. Rod goes in the normal place on the rear deck and star is on the rear deck by the exhaust pipes. There is another antenna on the right rear corner of the turret, which I believe is for the aircraft net (only reference I found said it was a 2 meter rod), and it looks like that might only be for the Regt. Stabs. All other changes were inside ..... use of ammo storage and bow MG to make room for additional radios. Dragon makes a Befehls G which would probably be a good reference. After all,"Befehl ist befehl."

Did the befehls panthers have the same onboard generator as the Tiger 1 ? If so it would have the exhaust port on the left side deck behind the driver ??? The Tiger 1 needed the generator to power the extra radio sets ?

The Pz.Bef.Wg. 268 Ausf. D/A/G had the FuG 7 radio for Luftwaffe communications installed. It's 1.4m antenna was installed in the port side mounting (standard location for the normal Panther antenna). The standard FuG 5 radio set had it's 2m antenna installed in the added turret roof mount.

The Pz.Bef.Wg. 267 Ausf. D/A/G had the FuG 8 radio set installed with the star antenna installed in an armored porcelain antenna base at the rear engine deck between the exhaust pipes. The FuG 5 2m antenna was installed in the added turret roof mount.

Both had the CG400 generator set installed in the starboard sponson floor, in place of the ammunition racks that were removed. The generator was only needed if the engine wasn't running.

Here is a wiring diagram from "Panther: External Appearance & Design Changes", page 61.

Atak makes a Command Panther set with zimmerit. It is for an A but includes parts from Aber for the antenna and mounts.
Set 35A06

I have the Atak zim set # 35A06. It is unit specific for an SS Leibstandart vehicle and has SS LAH engraved in the turret zimmerit, and has a bare cutout patch on each side for the leaping panther unit logo. As wassaid it is a very nice set. I am thinking of using mine on the Dragon Panther # 6358.

I know the co-ax was pulled to make room for the radio. The Panzer G had a rectangular plate covering the port. I can't find photos of a D. Was the port covered,filled, left alone?

The Ausf. D had an armored cover that was opened and closed from inside. No plug was required

The turret mounted co-ax was removed, along with the starboard sponson shell racks. An armored plug was installed to fill in the hole, in the mantlet,on all versions.

The chassis MG was not always removed.