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Neil_Baumgardner

According to your link it has Hull, or Fahrgestell, Number 150040.

www.preservedtanks.com...0&Select=1

But according to Thomas Jentz, Museum Ordnance Special Number 4: Elefant Panzerjager Tiger(P), p 3, it is 150071 (supposedly from a plate inside the superstructure)....

Any reason not to believe Jentz?

Neil

TrevorLarkum

Neil, as it says there my source was Lee Archer, author of the Panzerwrecks series. In a letter of 6th September 1995 he enclosed notes on various vehicles including "Elefant. Aberdeen. Fgst nr 150040. Tac nr 102. Captured Italy 1944." That's all I have - sight of the data plate would be good (it wasn't in that previous thread of data plates was it?).

Neil_Baumgardner

Okay, I'm gonna rely on Jentz since he provides a pretty detailed account of the vehicle's history and appears to have first-hand knowledge...

Neil

Neil_Baumgardner

Here's my new footnote for the Elefant:

"Has hull number 150071, accepted in April 1943, took part in Operation Citadel (Battle of Kursk) in July 1943, and fought in Italy from February – June 1944 until it was captured the U.S. Army, according to Thomas Jentz, Museum Ordnance Special Number 4: Elefant Panzerjager Tiger(P) (Darlington, MD: Darlington Productions, 1995), p 3-4."

Neil

vagabond

As a point of interest:

I met Jentz at Aberdeen when he was taking measurements of the Elefant.

Mrs VB and I were passing by the area and stopped in. I was excited to see the Elefant repainted and sitting in the lot and went to look at it. There was a guy taking measurements with a tape measure. I offered to help and ended up having a delightful conversation with him.
At the time I had no idea who he was and that I really ought to have known!!! It wasn't until I met a docent at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa and mentioned Jentz to him that I found out who he was. I thought he was just some guy that knew a lot about German Armor. What a trip!

He had written down a ton of info about the Elefant so it wouldn't surprise me if he managed to get inside.

Cheers!

TrevorLarkum

Yes, I have a lot of respect for Mr Jentz so I would go with his assessment - it sound like he had it first hand, whereas I don't know the original source of the information I had.