Editing Tiger II (section)

==Development==

Development started in 1937 with a design contract awarded to [[Henschel & Son|Henschel]]. Another design contract followed in 1939, given to [[Ferdinand Porsche|Porsche]].<ref name="Jentz & Doyle 1993, p. 3">Jentz & Doyle 1993, p. 3.</ref> Both prototypes used the same turret design from [[Krupp]]. The main differences were in the hull, transmission, suspension and automotive features.<ref name="Jentz & Doyle 1993, p. 3"/>

[[File:Chambois1.jpg|thumb|left|[[Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force|Supreme commander of the allied forces in Europe]] General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] walks by an overturned Tiger II destroyed in [[Falaise pocket]] August 1944]]
The Henschel version used a conventional hull design with sloped armour resembling the layout of the Panther tank. It had a rear-mounted engine and used nine steel-tired, eighty-centimetre-diameter overlapping road wheels per side with internal springing, mounted on [[Torsion bar suspension|transverse torsion bars]], in a similar manner to the original Henschel-designed Tiger I. To simplify maintenance, however, the wheels were only overlapping ''without'' being interleaved—the full ''Schachtellaufwerk'' rubber-rimmed road-wheel system that had been in use on nearly all German [[half-track]]s used the interleaved design, later inherited by the Tiger I<ref>Jentz and Doyle 1993, pp. 10–12.</ref> and Panther.

The Porsche hull designs included a rear-mounted turret and a mid-mounted engine. The suspension was the same as on the ''[[Elefant]]'' tank destroyer. This had six road wheels per side mounted in paired [[bogies]] sprung with short longitudinal torsion bars that were integral to the wheel pair; this saved internal space and facilitated repairs. One Porsche version had a gasoline-electric drive (fundamentally identical to a [[diesel-electric transmission]], only using a gasoline-fueled engine as the [[Prime mover (locomotive)|prime mover]]), similar to a [[gasoline-electric hybrid]] but without a storage battery; two separate [[drivetrain]]s in parallel, one per side of the tank, each consisting of a hybrid drive train; gasoline engine–[[electric generator]]–electric motor–drive [[sprocket]]. This method of propulsion had been used on the rejected [[VK 45.01 (P)|Tiger (P)]] design, which had been rebuilt as ''Elefant'', and in some US designs and was put into production in the French World War I era [[Saint-Chamond (tank)|Saint-Chamond]] tank and post-World War I [[Char 2C]]. The Porsche suspension components were later used on a few of the later ''[[Jagdtiger]]'' tank destroyers. Another proposal was to use hydraulic drives; Dr. Porsche's unorthodox designs gathered little favour.<ref>Jentz and Doyle 1993, pp. 8–10.</ref>