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Late-model pistol port
It is commonly known that the first Tigers had a pair of large, cumbersome pistol ports at the rear of the turret, one of which was soon replaced by the turret escape hatch. What is not widely known is that after the redesign of the turret in 1943, a more modern pistol port from the Tiger II project was installed in the first of the new turrets. This partially complete model of a turret shows clearly how the port appeared from outside:
The position of the new port was identical to the where the hole had been in the original port. However it was raised 100mm higher, probably to clear the commander's seat which was now further forward than in the old turret. The original pistol port had hardly been a study in ergonomic design; taken from the quite different turret of a predecessor of the Tiger, it was placed in the Tiger turret at exactly the 45 degree point, which at least made things easy for the manufacturers.
Two diagrams below show the new pistol port and its position in the turret wall. They are to the same scale; the blue gradations are centimetres in 1/35 scale.The new pistol port was a metal plug, held in place by a flat metal plate (diagram B) on a hinge (diagram C). You could rotate the plate out of the way, then simply push the plug outwards; a chain (not illustrated) would retain it and it could be pulled back in later. The end of the chain was fixed at an attachment point on the inside turret wall, below and to the left of the pistol port (diagram A, as seen from inside).
Several Panzers had similar pistol ports, but the Tiger I added an extra feature; it was waterproof. Although the underwater capability of the Tiger I was eliminated around the time of the turret redesign, the design of this waterproof pistol port was already completed, and given the state of German tank manufacture it is very likely that some or all of the ports actually fitted were fully waterproofed in accordance with this design.
For waterproofing, the pistol port was equipped with a rubber sealing ring, which was stowed on the same hanger where the end of the chain was attached (diagram A illustrates the rubber ring). To seal the pistol port, you would remove the rubber ring (and a metal backing ring) from this hanger, thread them onto the inside of the metal plug in the pistol port, and then tighten a large threaded nut on the tail of the metal plug (diagram C), which would press the hinged plate against the rubber ring and thus press the rubber ring against the turret wall.
The view below represents the interior of a late-model turret, stripped of most of its equipment. At the left is my incomplete model of the gun balance mechanism. In the center is the commander's seat. Behind the seat is the pistol port. The actual colours of the pistol port are unknown, but my best guess is that the plug and the movable plate were painted black. The rubber ring here is dangling loosely from the plug; in practice it might never have been taken from the hangar at lower left. The chain is not represented at all (chains are difficult to model!)
This is the approximate height of the port in the turret wall. It is higher than the original port.
Sources
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Copyright © David Byrden 1998-2007 except where indicated.
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