Previously in this series we looked at the German flakpanzer known as the Kugelblitz.
Although that tank was essentially the last German SPAA using a tank chassis of the war
it was far from the last concept to be considered.
Several of these projects in particular were looking into the idea of using a Panther chassis.
In today's episode we will look into those concepts starting with one you’ve likely
heard of before known as the Coelian.
With skies rapidly being filled by swarms of allied fighters and bombers Germany was
quickly realizing they needed new anti air vehicles, and they needed them fast.
Designs such as the Wirbelwind and Ostwind did help with this, but more were always needed
to protect from air attacks.
Although most of these early vehicles used the hulls of the more outdated panzers like
the Panzer IV the idea of using a Panther hull became an appealing one following its
introduction in 1943.
Although some ideas began even earlier than that.
The first of these proposals we’ll discuss today was a design by Rheinmetall-Borsig which
consisted of a turret mounting four 20mm cannons.
This design would never get off the ground though with not much surviving information
about it.
Judging by the fact that this was little more than a concept though we can presume it was
not viewed favorably compared to other designs.
The next, and probably most well-known, design was that of the Coelian.
Although that is the name we commonly associate with the vehicle nowadays and it is often
labeled with this name in source material the full name of it was actually 3.7cm Flakzwilling
auf Panther Fahrgestel 341.
It is important to mention here that although the Coelian name does seem to have been attached
to this vehicle it was reportedly never used by the Germans during the war.
As its official designation suggests this vehicle was to be armed with two 3.7 cm Flak
341 cannons which were a new experimental armament.
The design most of us know today is the one created by Rheinmetall.
Their concept for a turret mounted the two cannons in an enclosed turret and was eventually
demonstrated with a wooden mockup.
This mockup gives us a good look at what the final vehicle may have looked like although
the shape is a bit different from the design shown in the blueprints.
The turret from the blueprints is more angled on the front compared to the flat faced one
on the mockup.
Most likely this was just done to simplify the construction of the mockup and not what
the final turret shape was.
As for the protection of this turret it reportedly would have 70mms on the front, 80mms on the
mantlet, 70mms on the side and 40 on the rear.
Further details on the crew arrangement of the vehicle or its mobility are unclear as
no steel prototype was ever made and the design was canceled in favor of one armed with a
5.5cm cannon which was being worked on.
With the final weight being estimated at around 40 tons for the entire vehicle though the
Flakpanzer 341 would likely have been somewhat quicker than the normal Panther variants.
As for the crew it would have been 4 or 5 men with two in the hull and the rest in the
turret.
Likely the Commander would double as the gunner and the remaining 1-2 crew in the turret would
act as loaders for the two cannons.
The remaining crew members in the hull would perform the duties of driver and radio operator/hull
gunner if the final tank featured a hull MG.
Had the issues been worked out this vehicle would have been a well armored counter to
allied air power but as with many designs from this period of German tank design it
was plagued with issues.
Some of these included issues with venting the gasses produced by the guns as well as
acquiring and engaging targets with an enclosed turret.
The guns themselves proved to be an issue as well with only a few of them ever being
built and development being slow.
Out of all these issues though it was most likely the desperate need for tanks on the
frontlines which meant that the Panther hulls were much too precious to use for support
roles.
Some sources make mention of Daimler Benz also being tasked with designing a turret
for this vehicle.
The Daimler Benz concept supposedly would use a hydraulic drive for traverse and would
feature 100mms of frontal armor with 40mms on the sides.
However this description with slightly different armor thickness is connected to another design
known as the Flakpanzer 44.
Not much information about this design is known and no information on the 3.7cm flak
44 guns it was apparently to be armed with has been found so I can’t really say what
the truth behind it is.
It’s entirely possible that this was nothing more than another variation of the Flakpanzer
341.
Overall the Coelian was a decent design on paper, but realistically there was no chance
for this vehicle to reach the frontlines in any impactful amount.
Work was still done on the project up until 1945 although there was little to no chance
of it ever contributing to a production design.
As I mentioned earlier, part of the decision for this program to not proceed further was
the switch from the 37mm cannon to a 55mm one.
This design would see further development with several different concepts being created.
The first was completed on October 23rd 1944 and was presented alongside a tenth scale
model of the vehicle.
Unlike the previous design this vehicle was limited to only 72 degrees of elevation compared
to the 90 degrees of the Flakpanzer 341.
Work continued on the project with two pairs of guns ordered to be ready for the prototypes
along with a contract for a full scale wooden mockup.
A second design for the vehicle was submitted in December of 1944 this time from Krupp.
Although similar in overall shape this design is easily distinguished from the prior submission
just from the cupola alone.
This layout would also allow for an additional 8 degrees of elevation allowing for 80 degrees
of vertical movement.
Armor for their design was planned to be 40mms on the front, 20 on the sides, 30mms at the
rear, and 20mms on the roof.
Unlike the Coelian this vehicle would feature a crew of 6 with 4 of those in the turret.
Two would act as loaders with the other two being the gunner and commander.
Reportedly the mockup was eventually completed and sent for presentation to the German Army
Ordnance Office.
Despite this work though the project was canceled in early 1945 as it was not included in the
emergency production program.
One additional thing to note about this design was that there seemed to be plans to mount
additional armaments along with the 55mm cannons.
Proposals included the MG151 20mm cannon along with MG42 machine guns in varying numbers.
These guns would be mounted above the 55mm cannons in the gun mantlet in one of these
layouts: two 20mm cannons with one MG42, two MG42s and one 20mm, or two 20mms without the
MG42.
This would certainly give the vehicle a powerful armament for both air targets and ground targets
but with the project canceled it made little difference.
Last but not least we come to the biggest armament, that being the 8.8cm flak 41 on
a Panther hull.
This project actually dates back to earlier than the other programs with it originally
beginning in 1942 as the Versuchsflakwagen or VFW for short.
Although the VFW prototype you may have seen before predates the Panther it was just that,
a prototype, and so a later design using parts from the Panther was investigated.
This had some benefits such as standardized production of parts but would ultimately fail
for the same reasons as the other Panther based flakpanzers.
One thing that did separate this program from the others was that in October of 1942 Krupp
was informed to include Panther II components in their design.
This may have actually contributed to the project never reaching the testing stage as
the previous Panther I hull they had been provided was returned.
Work on this project seems to have continued up until early 1944 with Rheinmetall also
doing some work on a design of their own.
Neither of these would amount to much though with the project being stopped in January
of 1944.
This was partly due to other projects being more urgent but also due to the fact that
the role of the vehicle was already fulfilled by stationary 88mm flak guns and smaller calibers
were needed for direct support against ground attack aircraft.
Another reason for this cancellation was the obvious need for Panther hulls for regular
tank production as well as the large amount of modification both Krupp and Rheinmetall's
designs would require.
In the end no Panther based anti-air vehicle would be produced by Germany.
Even though this was the smart choice on their part and allowed for reusing of older Panzer
hulls, primarily Panzer IVs, it did very little to slow down the allied forces.
With American factories churning out staggering numbers of aircraft alongside those made by
Britain and the Soviet Union, any hopes of reclaiming the sky over German occupied territories
were long gone.
Taking hulls away from regular Panther production for these new flakpanzers would have done
next to nothing about that anyways and probably would have only resulted in Germany losing
the war even faster with less regular Panther variants reaching the frontlines.
Although the saying too little too late is often used in the context of mid to late war
German vehicle projects, even that is being generous when referring to these pipe-dream
panzers.
Hopefully you enjoyed today's video.
If you did, don't forget to click the like button and subscribe for more.
Thanks as always to my channel members for your continued support of the channel.
If you liked this video I recommend checking out my videos on the Kugelblitz and the Panther
II which you can find in my Cursed by Design playlist.
You can also support the channel by checking out my merch store using the link in the description,
I’ll put a link there and in a pinned comment to the design I have which features the Coelian.
Thanks as always for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.