Carro Armato P.43

Fiat Automobiles and Gio. Ansaldo & C.

Industry	Armored vehicle manufacturing
Headquarters	Italy
Products	P.43 Bis heavy tank concept

The P.43 Bis was an Italian heavy tank concept developed in April 1943 during the Kingdom of Italy era. Intended as a successor and enhancement to the P26/40 tank, only a single prototype was completed by late summer 1943. The official Italian nomenclature for this armored vehicle was carro armato P.43 Bis, where "P" stands for pesante meaning "heavy."

Characteristics

The P43, also referenced as P 30/43, was developed concurrently by Fiat Automobiles and Gio. Ansaldo & C. alongside the P26/40, envisioned as a more heavily armored variant. Expected to weigh no less than 30 tons, it was designed to be powered by a 420 hp engine. Initially, it was planned to mount the same 75/34 mm cannon used on the P.26. During the design process, proposals included equipping the tank with a 90/42 mm gun derived from the anti-aircraft Cannone da 90/53, or alternatively adopting the Ansaldo 105/25 mm cannon utilized on the Semovente da 105/25.

P43 bis

Model representation of the P43 bis

A wooden mockup photograph exists showing the P43 alongside models of the P40 and P43 bis variants, with the latter weighing approximately 30 tons and armed with what appears to be a lighter version of the 90/53 gun. In this same image, there is also a model resembling a smaller German Panther tankTemplate:Fix/category, seemingly equipped with a similar caliber cannonTemplate:Dubious. It has been speculated that German authorities may have viewed the P43 as derivative of the Panther tankTemplate:Fix/category (Italy had acquired licensed blueprints for Panther manufacturing). The designation P43 bis seems linked to this modelTemplate:Fix/category—potentially due to delays in producing a version equipped with a 90 mm cannon.

This convergence in development may have been influenced either by intelligence from the Russian front regarding the new Soviet medium tank T-34/85, which weighed approximately 32 tons and mounted an 85 mm gun adapted from an anti-aircraft weapon, or by access to German Panther design data.

Various sourcesTemplate:Which? list engine specifications as follows:

• The original P26/40 featured a diesel engine delivering 330 HP, later replaced during production by a gasoline engine rated at 420 HP.
• The P30/43 or P43 was intended to use a V12 diesel engine producing between 420 and 430 HP.
• The P.43 bis variant (armed with a 90/42 mm gun) would employ the same powerplant rated at approximately 420-430 HP.
• A second iteration called P.35/43 or second P43 bis (sometimes referred to as "Panther reduction") was projected at around 35 tons, armed with either a 90/53 or 90/42 mm cannon and powered by an engine reportedly inspired by that of the Soviet T-34, delivering between 470 and 480 HP.Template:Dubious

The frontal armor thickness ranging from 80 to 100 mm would have placed it on par with contemporaneous tanks from other nations—such as the Soviet IS-2, which weighed about 46 tons and featured armor up to 122 mm thick; or the German Tiger I, weighing approximately 57 tons; while surpassing that of the Panther at roughly 45 tons with frontal armor around 80 mm.

Front view of the P43 visible in this photograph

Despite these developments, only a prototype stage was reached in production during 1943.

See also

• German Panther medium to heavy tank
• German Tiger I heavy tank
• Hungarian 44M Tas medium to heavy tank
• Italian P26/40 medium to heavy tank
• United States M26 Pershing medium to heavy tank

Bibliography

• Filippo Cappellano and Pier Paolo Battistelli, Italian Medium Tanks 1939–45, Osprey Publishing, 1998
• Cesare Falessi and Benedetto Pafi, Veicoli da combattimento dell'Esercito Italiano dal 1939 al 1945, Intyrama books, 1976
• Ralph A. Riccio, Nicola Pignato, Marcello Calzolari; Carri Armati e Veicoli da Combattimento Italiani della Seconda Guerra Mondiale, 2010

External links

• http://www.soldatinionline.it/Articoli/Eserciti-Uniformi/Un-carro-moderno-per-il-Regio-Esercito-il-P.40.html