Friday 17 October 2014

Tiger II Trials: Visibility

"Visibility from the tank

The Tiger B tank has the following observation devices:
  • Telescopic ball sight
  • Fire correction periscope
  • Optical machinegun sight
  • Ten periscopic observation devices
The telescopic ball sight with adjustable magnification and field of view is installed left of the gun. The head of the sight is attached to the oscillating part of the gun, and the eyepiece is attached to a support on the turret roof. The field of vision is 25 degrees with 2.5x magnification and 12 degrees 30 minutes with 5x magnification. 

The fire correction periscope is carried in the turret bustle. When in use, it is mounted on the commander's cupola. The field of view of the fire correction periscope is 6 degrees, magnification is 6x, periscopic width is 1250 mm.

The optical machinegun sight is attached to the radio operator's machinegun and has 1.6x magnification, field of view of 18 degrees, and a 6 meter dead zone.

10 periscopic observation devices are placed in four points: seven of them are in the commander's cupola, one each for the loader, radio operator, and driver. The commander's observation devices are all identical and are positioned in a circle on the vertical armour of the cupola. The periscopes have the following field of view:

Device position
Field of view (degrees)
Dead zone (meters)
Horizontal
Vertical
Front
65
25
11
Front right
65
18
19
Right
65
15
25
Rear right
65
20
15
Rear left
65
22
12
Left
65
25
11
Front left
65
25
11

The vertical field of view and dead zone of the observation devices is variable due to the commander's cupola being offset to the left side of the turret roof.

The periscopic sight of the loader is immobile in the right front of the turret. It has a horizontal field of view of 57 degrees, vertical field of view of 18 degrees and dead zone of 28 meters.

The periscopic sight of the gunner is immobile in the roof of the fighting compartment. It has a horizontal field of view of 60 degrees, vertical field of view of 16 degrees and dead zone of 11 meters.

The periscopic sight of the driver can turn in its mount in the roof of the driver's compartment. It has a horizontal field of view of 60 degrees, vertical field of view of 16 degrees when immobile, or up to 100 degrees horizontal and 40 degrees vertical with rotation. The dead zone is 7 meters.

Figure 9: Sight range (horizontal)


Figure 10: Sight range (vertical)"

CAMD RF 38-11355-2860

2 comments:

  1. Interesting. But without comparision hard to judge

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  2. Visibility had degraded in comparison to earlier versions. For example Pz-III had the cupola at the back of the turret in the middle. It also had more openings for observation. Tiger-II turret got rid of these because they reduced strength,

    IIRC Soviets did like the articulated sight.

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