Landships II

1. is the lifting hook for the armoured body. Was initially placed on centre line (see 501 early), was then moved to the corners front left and rear right. It's two part - outer cap with 'rangefinder' extensions (to accept the lifting cable) and inner pin on which cap was screwed. With cap removed, it's just a pin.

2. not clear what you aiming at. Some tanks have a second fitting front left, between 1. and the louvre, this also had a cap (but without 'rangefinder' extensions), but is also found without cap, just as a kind of pin. The purpose of the this device is open to debate. - It's equivalent to the small flap found front right. - Bets are still accepted... 

506 (and the other first lot Röchling armour tanks) are different to the rest. The lifting device is closer to the louvre - and it's accompanied by a second divice whose purpose is mysterious. At the rear, the two devices were positioned at either side of the middle line. That was also the case with 501's front (before the gun was fitted). On the fronts of 505, 506 and 507, the arrangement was shifted by 90 degrees - with the lifting device in front and the second device behind it, in parallel to the louvre. On 540, the second device was missing already.

The first lot Krupps and 2nd lot tanks have it like described in my first post. I suppose the lifting device was initially placed like at the 1st lot Röchlings, but then found better placed further to the outside. So, there were now two pins each front and rear, one functional for lifting, the other one just left in place and covered by a cap. On 564 (last production), only the outer pins with the lifting devices are in place - and no the inner pins.

Apologies for joining this discussion so late, and for asking what probably appear - to some here - to be dumb questions. But I've got to ask....is there any authoritative documentation to support the suggestion that these "handles" are lifting devices?

Having looked closely at Mephisto's equivalent fittings I'm left doubting if these could ever have been designed for lifting. My reasons are two-fold. Firstly, these fittings are attached to the armour plate with just two very small-bolts (red arrows). By contrast, the so-called "antenna" base fittings are retained by three times as many bolts, all of larger diameter. Furthermore, you'll see that there is remnant copper cabling (sheathed) emerging from the base of the antenna, and feeding through the hull alongside what is purported to be a lifting "handle" (yellow arrows).

While this cabling hasn't yet been closely inspected it's presence in association with both fittings, together with the co-location of these two fittings, would see to suggest some other design purpose (such as external lighting or, as previously suggested, a radio antenna).

Hence my initial question...is there any authoritative documentation to support the suggestion that these "handles" are lifting devices?

As an aside, Sydney's Powerhouse Museum has in its collection the receiver from a Telefunken Type G-Fuk 16 wireless, being the kind of equipment originally fitted to A7Vs.

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=342754

Would welcome your feedback here. Thanks.

Mark

mad zeppelin wrote:

Some tanks have a second fitting front left, between 1. and the louvre, this also had a cap (but without 'rangefinder' extensions), but is also found without cap, just as a kind of pin. The purpose of the this device is open to debate.

Ok, I can contribute very little to this discussion, but in this picture you can see the construction of  the fire control system. It seems to me, that the cap without 'rangefinder' extensions may have been part of it.

An interesting double 'rangefinder' extension can be seen here ...  or is this the cap?

Cheers, Peter