King Tiger V2 - Inside The World's Oldest Tiger II
September 26, 2025
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19:16Now PlayingKing Tiger V2 - Inside The World's Oldest Tiger II
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as posted by the channelKing Tiger V2. It’s the oldest surviving King Tiger in the world. And it’s also the only King Tiger that survives with the unusual pre-production turret. This has, in the past, been referred to as the “Porsche Turret”. But why? And why did they change the turret on later models?
There are many misconceptions and rumours about this tank – the most common of which that the turret was built by Porsche. It wasn’t. How did it end up on this tank? Well, that’s a bit of a confusing story, but it was basically down to Krupp and Henschel working on a winning design.
The production of King Tiger would begin with three prototypes: V1, V2 and V3 – and the V stands for Versuchs, the German word for trial. V1 was a mild steel prototype that was used for demonstrations, and V3 was used as an engine test rig. V2, however, was retained for testing by Henschel and was captured by the US Army before being handed over to the British.
V2 left Germany in one piece, but by the time it reached Bovington in 1952 a number of parts had gone astray – most notably, the gearbox! King Tiger V2 is now a star of The Tank Museum’s collection, and the team have now begun to assess whether a restoration might be possible…
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This video features archive footage courtesy of British Pathé.
This video features animated gameplay courtesy of World of Tanks.
This video features archive material, courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Bundesarchiv.
This video features archive material, courtesy of The Swiss Military Museum and the collection of Mr. E. Wegmann.
In this film, Chris Copson takes us through the history of the oldest surviving King Tiger – V2. This vehicle was the second King Tiger ever built and is the only one to maintain its iconic pre-production turret. From clearing up the confusion over who actually built this turret, to turning up the truth on the age of its gun, this video will set the record straight about this fascinating prototype.
Want to learn more about the King Tiger V2? Here are some of the sources we used to make this film:
Melcher Stikkelorum, Haustenbeck’s Heritage in PanzerPlace.eu. 2022.
Andrew Hills, Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf.B (Sd.Kfz.182) Tiger II in Tanks-encyclopeadia.com. 2019
Trojca, W., Tiger Ausf.B Koenigstiger, Katowice-Speyer 2014.
Jentz, Thomas L. and Doyle, Hilary L., Germany’s Tiger Tanks, VK 45.02 – Tiger II., Schiffer, 1997.
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