Created as an adaptation of Porsche’s Tiger tank prototype, the Type 130, known as a Ferdinand, went straight from the factory to the toughest tank battle of World War Two.
Although he had built and tested tanks in secret during the World War One, Ferdinand Porsche was late to the party when World War Two commenced. It was not until December 6, 1939 that he received an order to start work on a tank of 25 to 30 tons carrying a 75mm gun. Porsche’s rival for this job was Kassel’s Henschel und Sohn, whose Erwin Aders had been designing Panzers since 1936. Thus Germany’s neophyte tank designer was pitched against one of her most experienced.
Porsche’s creation could be built at the new Nibelung Works at St Valentin in Austria, where he was chief engineer from March 1940. Laid out for automotive-style flow-line production, this new manufacturing site was the only one Germany built expressly for tank production during the war.
In a system that was radical for German tanks but mother’s milk for Porsche, his first tank prototype powered its tracks by electric motors. Driving through planetary reduction gears, they received current from generators at its twin V-10 engines, also a Porsche design. Electrical equi…
