SdKfz. 182 King Tiger Porsche Turret

Even before the Tiger I made its debut in the fall of 1942, plans were already underway for its replacement. Both Henschel and Porsche were asked to design a bigger Tiger that could mount a longer 88mm gun. The Porsche design did not progress very far, although its suspension was used on the first few Jagdtigers, and 50 turrets designed for the Porsche version of the Tiger were manufactured. These were not specific to the Porsche design, but rather were the design that would fit onto either tank chassis. Because the turret was redesigned to avoid shot traps and simplify manufacturing, the early turret was dubbed the “Porsche” turret, and the later turret was dubbed the “Henschel” turret. These are not official designations, but are commonly used.

The Henschel design was essentially the Tiger I, with a lengthened chassis (one additional road wheel station), and slopped armour like on the Panther. Based on reports from the field, they dispensed with the interleaved roadwheel design of the Tiger I and just had inside and outside roadwheels.

The first Tiger IIs came off the assembly line in January, 1944, and 474 were completed by the end of the war. As noted above, the first 50 were fitted with the early “Porsche” turret. Since zimmerit was in use on all manufactured tanks from Sept 1943 to Sept 1944, all “Porsche” turreted King Tigers were coated in Zimmerit.