It’s raining.. cupolas
Yesterday was a good day for Panzerteil enthusiastics. First there was the news about the dug up 90P9. But the major news were the three M19 turrets and one turret for a howitzer found on Cazaux military airbase in southwest France!
Yes I said four. One turret is a very rare 73P9 ‘für leichte Haubitze im Turm’, a 10cm grenade launcher under a huge cupola. Peter Heijkoop, a specialist on armoured parts, thinks this turret was supposed to be used in La Rochelle where a bunker for it was planned. Two of them are the 290mm thick A1 version turrets for M19 automatic grenade launcher, 428P01. The fourth turret is a 250mm thick regular 424P01 one. The turrets are reused on a French military airfield south west of Bordeaux. It’s not clear where they came from but looking at the state of the cupolas they were still in store at the end of the war. Unfortunately the site is still off limits for anyone outside France and its military.
You can actually have them if you can arrange the right documents and transportation! More info and photos on Axis History Forum.
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- A ‘small’ 424P01 up side down. (Photo: J.F. Laquièze)
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- Strange sight, a 73P9 on its side. (Photo: J.F. Laquièze)
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- A 428P01 on its Sockelring. (Photo: J.F. Laquièze)
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- The original loophole on top one of the turrets. (Photo: J.F. Laquièze)
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[…] Laquièze found a Panzerteilen goldmine in France. Last week we wrote about the four M19 cupolas found on Cazaux military airport. Now we can add three more ones to the […]
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