AHC: Better Tiger I tank

How about an earlier Tiger I tank, or whatever it will be called ITTL, which sees limited use? Then during the Tiger I era IOTL the country would be onto their Tiger II model with improvements made.

Wiking proposed something like that, when he suggested that the VK36.01(H) was rapidly accepted into production, in a thread started a few days ago.
 
No not really - All the mentioned "modified" Tiger are part of teh Panther II design...

No. The Panther II is a completely different tank. It is not a "better Tiger".


For my part, I think if it was designed, constructed and deployed before Barbarossa, the Germans might have had more time to iron out some of the deficiences of the Tiger.

You could have a POD like in BlairWitch749`s Manstein in Africa timeline where the Germans discover the T-34 and KV tanks before starting the campaign. So instead of having to rush the Tigers and Panthers in 1942. and 1943., the Wehrmacht could invade the USSR with all Panzer III`s having 50mm canons, with Panzer IV production increased and Tigers available from the start. Regardless of how the war goes from there, having the Tiger as a fully operational tank before the invasion would most likely remove at lest some of the problems it had.
 
Basically, any way that the Tiger can either be introduced earlier, or not as rushed an introduction as in OTL.

Perhaps if the prototype was completed in January 1942 (perhaps as a result of the encounters with the Matilda tanks, which, like the T-34's, the Germans had very little that could penetrate the armour of). If Wikipedia is correct (yeah, yeah I know), the requirement was for the design to be ready by June 1942. If the design is completed earlier, the prototype could then be tested out and improvements made to the design before the June deadline, thus the production design wouldn't have as many problems as in OTL.

As has been noted several times, sloping armour (certainly at that front) to lower the weight, better transmission and engine, and removal of the interleaved road wheels would all make the design better, more reliable and a far more dangerous foe.
 
Change German engineering practices so they don't give their quartermasters fits. The madness that was introducing new changes right on the assembly line and designing the thing to be almost needlessly complicated in every aspect of the internal mechanics made the Tiger I a lot less reliable than it could have been. It was a problem with all German production but when it came to Panzer production these tendencies were especially bad, leading to logistical nightmares for just keeping the things supplied with the spare parts they needed before you get into the fuel problem.

I'd say your best bet is for Henry Ford to immigrate in 1934 and have him take over the Volkswagen project, building an American-style mass assembly plant to produce the new cars, and then applying those lessons to Panzer production. Even then all of that won't get around Germany's limited fuel supplies.
 
Concentrate on speed of construction, ease of servicing and reliability even if it means the engineering is less precise than German idustry is known for. Basicly settle for good enough rather than over engineering things.
 
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