Porsche's FAILED Tiger Tank - VK 45.01 (P)

One of the greatest tanks of the Second World War was the Tiger Tank. During the conflict it developed an incredibly feared reputation and the allies became incredibly worried about facing a Tiger I. The Tiger Tank has gone down in history as one of the most famous vehicles too, however when it was designed it took a long time to come into production. Originally there were two main manufacturers who would design the tank, Henschel and Porsche.
The Henschel design would be the one that was taken forward and made into the incredible tank, however the Porsche design initially was favoured by Hitler. The Tank however was plagued with mechanical issues especially with the engine and transmission. The vehicle named, VK 45.01 P would go up against Henschel's design, however ultimately lost out. The issue though was the fact that Porsche still had a huge number of chassis' that they were working on. These then became the Ferdinand/Elefant Tank Destroyer.
Join us today as we look at Porsche's FAILED Tiger Tank, the VK 45.01 P.
Thanks for watching! Support the channel by subscribing, liking, and sharing.
Music: 'I am a man who will fight for your honour. by Chris Zabriskie'
Follow me on Twitter: / theuntoldpast
Follow me on Instagram: theuntoldpast
Disclaimer: All opinions and comment stated below in the Comments section do not represent the opinion of TheUntoldPast. All opinions and comments and dialogue should discuss the video above in a historical manner.
TheUntoldPast does not accept any racism, profanity, insults, sexism or any negative discussion aimed at an individual. TheUntoldPast has the right to delete any comment with this content inside it and also ban the user from the channel.

[@1337fraggzb00N]

Regular Tiger Tank: overly engineered German stuff. Porsche Tiger Tank: overly engineered German stuff but with leather seats.

[@benlaskowski357]

Porsche's obsession with turboelectric drive was the project's biggest headache.

[@mikhailbolodo1597]

was there any real benefit to turboelectric drives in tanks?

[@benlaskowski357]

@@mikhailbolodo1597 It did make the vehicle easier to drive. But it required huge electrical dynamos for each track. That's why the Maus was so large.

[@SheepInACart]

More than just "easy to drive" it fixed no less than 3 completely different issues that plauged all other tanks both in service and in consideration by Axis powers at the time. Firstly gear cutting, mechanical drive systems needed LOTS of precision cut, hardened gears. This took expertise, specialized equipment, and may labor hours, the latter could almost be scaled to wartime demand, the former two absolutely could not, and so every nation in the conflict was short of gears, limiting design options and production rates. It was bad enough that large warships (which needed immense gears) and trains often ended up using alternatives like hydraulic couplings instead of reduction boxes, because they simply couldn't source the gears. Tanks are a worst case for their size, because a good steering system needs multiple differentials to steer, multiple forwards and multiple reverse gears, and torque/shock loading on all of it is pretty high, leading to regular replacement in addition to larger sizing ect. Even lubricants where a supply issue, and regularly needed changing. Electric systems required copper (which actually was one of the principle reasons it was not chosen for production Tiger), but otherwise could be made at large scale in fairly short order, needing only 2 fixed reductions (between each motor and track), all with far less moving parts and service requirements. Secondly zero turn radius. It sounds easy, but its not, especially with multi-engines and long tack bases of such large vehicles. Many tanks in the war couldn't really do so dynamically, requiring a stop, movement of gear lever, turn, stop, movement of gear lever, before they could then continue. More complex systems where also totally non-redundant, damage to any steering brake, diff or gearbox would normally render control impossible, immobilizing the tank beyond maybe a straight reverse back into cover if possible. Electric vehicles could theoretically transition between forwards and zero radius turns seamlessly with no extra driver input, and would be redundant as to the loss of either engine, generator or brake system, being able to feed power both forwards and backwards to both tracks motors from either engine. These problems got even more important on hills, where being able to turn without reducing tractive effort or jerking could be a matter of safely navigating or ending up sliding off angle. Thirdly was "high speed" turns, especially on roads. Even at 30kph most tracked vehicles are TERRIFYING, because the slightest input in steering goes from doing nothing to suddenly jerking massively in that direction. Most electric drives did a lot better in this regard, with the one caveat (also shared by many automatic transmissions of the time) of being worse at handling long high speed hill descents, where many users overheated brakes. Performance wasn't stellar. It was 10-15% heavier to build a electric tank than a regular manual gearbox and steering diffs, and while the electric system could accelerate to medium speeds faster (due to more, or in some cases infinite gear ratios, and no non-accelerating time for gear shifts) especially if also turning, its top road speeds where theoretically slightly worse, but the actual road handling often better, and real world fuel use pretty simlar either way (optimized engine speeds for any given load/speed vs more efficient driveline). The biggest part that stands out to me is how non-game changing the entire thing was.. it didn't make for a massive cumbersome design, nor somehow perfect handling, it was all within the scope of existing vehicles. It had its pro's/con's, but had it been selected for Tiger, likely wouldn't have changed the reputation or role of that series very much over what really happened.

[@benlaskowski357]

@@SheepInACart True, and wow! Quite a lot of info, friend! Thing is the army didn't want it because of the flaws . . . and also Porsche's prototype catching fire was a bit of a turn-off too.

[@_-.-_-_.._--.-_-_----_-.--_._-]

@@benlaskowski357 It is my understanding that politics killed the Porsche Tiger more than its flaws

[@BHuang92]

What people think of Porsches: Cars Me:

[@KRAMPUS_G60_16V]

Also Maus :)

[@amrshoukry7510]

My dad has a tycan

[@peterwolffe658]

Porsche very nice but I'm an Aston Martin man i worked on the first V8 my guvnor back then said bloody hel pete it's not a hillman imp lol.

[@Mackeson3]

Porsche used to make tractors too.

[@binaway]

A single Porsche Tiger saw action. See Mark Felton's ( Rarest Tiger Tank - The Porsche Tiger ).

[@generacionmarttin]

That Tiger P with the 003 number was the commander variant that went into battlefield with the Ferdinands. Reports says that was the only Tiger P used in combat, and that it showed an amazing potencial, killing up to 40 tanks in a single day.

[@kampfgruppepeiper501]

I think your right, Mark Felton might of done a video on it but I could be wrong

[@malcolmhunt7108]

Nothing is known of 003's combat history so any information on the number of kills it achieved, or indeed how it was lost, is pure speculation.

[@generacionmarttin]

​@@malcolmhunt7108 Like always, any kind of information or report from this kind of vehicles is hard to verify. Heard lots of supposed documentation of it from diverse sources, some say it did nothing, some say it was destroyed and others say it was a sucess. The later, the one I posted on the begining, seems the most favorable for the amount of information and proff, and also it can bee 100% pausible since the Ferdinand themself also killed lots of tanks on their own.

[@malcolmhunt7108]

@@generacionmarttin there is no primary evidence at all to support what has been written in books etc regarding the combat effectiveness/history of the BefehlsTiger (P) and so it is all supposition, of course people are free to believe that supposition all they want. The only thing we now for definite is that it was deployed in April 1944 and was lost in July 1944, If there was any other evidence it would have been covered in Karlheinz Munch's book on sPzjager Abteilung 653 or the many books by Jentz, Doyle and Spielberger.

[@od1452]

I got the impression that 2 Command tanks were made but one was not delivered. I don't know if that is true.

[@elektro_knete792]

Would have been interesting if the porsche hull was chosen.

[@duncanweaver1740]

It just didn't look as cool an scary as the Henchel Tiger

[@elektro_knete792]

@@duncanweaver1740 Sure, but we only find the Henschel hull "scary" because we are familiar with the design over the decades. If they decided to choose the other hull i think we would find that scary aswell. Because it doesn't look any less intimidating in my opinion.

[@Violet-jh1vw]

Average Porsche sportcar fans : Average Porsche tiger enjoyer :

[@elizabethspedding1975]

Merry Christmas everyone!

[@mauriciomorais7818]

Merry Christmas!

[@randysurline4651]

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year

[@erikpayne8202]

Feliz Navidad

[@historybuff9276]

I love the Ferdinand theres only 2 left. I believe if it had the potential to be a great design if only they had more time to work out the kinks. I strongly believe it inspired the M109 used today.

[@user-xs2xe6kv8k]

What does it has to do with the m109? How did it inspired it? And also the Ferdinand was a really heavy tank destroyer so its not so good of a design

[@GrumpyIan]

The Porsche Tiger that had problems showing off to Hitler is referenced in the Anime Girls und Panzer.

[@KRAMPUS_G60_16V]

Excellent video! I would love more technical and combat achivements in the videos :)

[@MachDoch74]

on 20. of April 1942 the Henschel and Porsche Prototype where shown to Hitler in Rastenburg east prussia. the Henschel performed well. the Porsche could not turn 90 degrees and had to be set in direction by an steam-crane, later catching fire in the motorwell. Nevertheless Hitler preferd the Porsche, because he was very close to what he called his favourite engineer/designer Ferdinand Porsche. After trails, Reichsminister Speer and an Oberst Thomale decided for the Henschel Tiger, in Front of Hitler. He slept one night over it, and the Henschel was put into production..

[@Chris.Davies]

Unsuccessful is not the same as failed. You lose the Internet. Good day, sir.

[@thebuilderxen6858]

I like the music, which is like nostalgia and sad

[@enderjed2523]

Nice usage of the song “I am a man who will fight for your honour”

[@kampfgruppepeiper501]

You really do notice that difference in the track layout with the return rollers missing on the Porsche, they look droopy. Merry Christmas mate! 🎄🎁❄️

[@chrishamilton2559]

There were return rollers on the Henschel? Show me.

[@mayuravirus6134]

Ironically Porsche pioneers Hybrid Technology

[@peterwolffe658]

Great info' I am a rc panzer/tank man. The only one USA tank all of my panzers are WW11 German. Thanks for you great work.

[@chrissibersky4617]

Admit that the American tank in your collection is the American m3 Lee. 😂

[@peterwolffe658]

Chris. Just to say I've got the American tank so that my German panzers can shot the shit out of it, all 6 of them ha ha ha. But the best of this is i own a Harley Davidson motorcycle ONE of the best motor made cycles.

[@chrissibersky4617]

@@peterwolffe658 I used to build WWII dioramas. Of course focus was on the Germans. Not only were their stuff superior, it also looks so much better. Everything else looks silly compared to German design. It was a pain to have to build the allied military that I needed but a bit satisfactory to break them up for the dioramas.

[@markwebster5749]

World war 11 🤔

[@user-xs2xe6kv8k]

Where do you find all this footage

[@Rochefort-Frank_1]

Well. In gup, this tank runs like a present cars

[@Olrik974]

Reminds me somewhat of the Tiger tank in the Russian film "White Tiger"...

[@SlavJerry]

well that one from white tiger is tiger H1 replica from soviet heavy tank (maybe KV or IS tank)

[@radioactiveboi842]

But it can drive like a race car

[@SlavJerry]

I think you watched too much girls und panzer

[@britishneko3906]

I heard the Porsche can go as fast in reverse as forward.. is that true?

[@user-pc1er8zy7c]

Makes sense with the electric final drive.

[@nickb8618]

How many allied tankers seen a panzer 4 at range and shit themselves thinking it was a tiger

[@sta5011]

Huh I didn't even know Porsche actually made tanks way before they started making cars

[@alm5992]

I can't see the ramtiger ever being made for obvious reasons.

[@chrissibersky4617]

I think Porsche designed the VW Beetle or Bug together with Hitler. If that's true it's one of the weirdest things in car industry, innit?

[@matthewmurphy2433]

Great video and footage One thing though, would probably be better without the sad ambient music in the back. Doesnt really vibe with nazi tanks.

[@daltonjrhodes]

Porsche should have used two Trm120 engines to begin with.

[@wombatwilly1002]

Think for a moment just how far 3KM's actually is.Geezus...LOL..:)

[@BARBQPUP]

Again your wrong tiger was a porsh name that why they had to call it 1 because they wasnt aloud to call it tiger

[@tigerp6605]

No...

[@KentuckyFriedChildren]

I'm not the first and won't be the last But I won't say my place because *Nobody asked*

[@hirahiro2331]

Lol

[@Estes3ceps]

It's also know as tiger (P) like in wot and wotb

[@therealyewest4417]

So , Tiger 1 (Porsche)?

[@Estes3ceps]

No just Tiger (P) why would it be a tiger 1 (Porsche) if it failed. the reason why it failed because it was slow and can't go pass muddy terrains just like in GUP. if the tiger (P) didn't failed it would be called the tiger 1 if the original tiger 1 failed it would be called tiger (H)

[@uselessshitheadwithcatprof3815]

Electric engine which is 10-20 years early from used by vehicle and it was huge stress to work on but hull design over engine didn't make sense to Hitler. And low mobility means it had way more armour than tiger variant that used in combat. Originally designed to counter Soviet Kv1, T34, and some others but 200mm frontal armour is king of battlefield in that time. It would face super pershing if served in combat but in reality super pershing never win cuz it took a few shot to take out panther which means nothing to P. Yup Soviets will start mass-produce kv4 (kv3 actually existed but originally designed on Kv1-1941 hull and 1 producted and deployed to combat in Leningrad to check how effective it is.. But destroyed in that day). Kv4 is kinda super heavy and pure powerful to stop any axis tank. Other thing of fail is it will have same problem as American heavy... There is limit to mount any gun cuz weight of barrel stands on turrets weight then it needs counter to balance itself so it cannot solve the problem. Just stay with 8,8cm. German transmission had poor quality so any heavy tank face this. Crew survivalist would he high in P than H.

[@someasiankid6214]

:(

[@hansgruber3064]

I think the Germans went with right choice with picking the Henscel design over the Porsche one. Not only was it a better design but Porsche managed to make one of the ugliest tanks with the VK 45.01 (P).

[@carolmorris404]

Isn't it wonderful to be listening to the devlopment of Tiger Tanks to kill some mother's children, on Christmas eve. Greatings from South Africa 🇿🇦

[@kampfgruppepeiper501]

Negative Carol