From Warlord:
Seeing as we have a large range of Panther tanks we thought it would be fun to produce something a little different for you. Enter the Flakpanzer V ‘Coelian’!
Mounting twin 3.7cm flak guns in an enclosed turret, this proposed version of the Panther tank was designed to deal with the increasing danger to German forces from ever-dominant Allied airpower. The design didn’t reach production as the Panther hull was too valuable as a main battle tank.
With Allied airpower all but supreme in the later years of the war, German requirements for better equipped anti-aircraft vehicles became ever more urgent. Rheinmetall-Borsig designed the Coelian – marrying a Panther ausf G hull with a fully enclosed turret mounting twin 3.7mm flak cannon. This would give the crews a larger degree of protection when taking on strafing fighters or marauding bombers. The Coelian would also be able to fire at ground targets…
Although the design didn’t leave the drawing board due to the need to utilise all Panther hulls in their normal role – as arguably the best tank of the war – this model could form a great element of What If? games set in 1946 should the war have been protracted that long or in the Defence of Berlin during 1945 had the Coelian made it to production…
