Hey I was just wondering, besides those that end up in the museums, whatever happened to all those leftover German tanks,vehicles,aircraft etc from WW2?

I read some years back that some of the tank chassis were converted to make tractors and farm equipment. I can't remember where I read it though.

I know that the aircraft, most comonly, ended up as scrap,and was destroyed, but most surviving german vehicles, were that of vehicles that were taken back to the states for testing, or, have been found "lost" somewhere in the mud and forest, and sometimes even rivers, and have been restored.

Hi Ave

I read somewhere that the French used some German aircraft during the fight in Indochina. I don't know about any armor


Wolfsix

some was given to other countries to use in their army...the Chec's, Hungarians and French come to mind

Many were used as hard targets at the various live fire ranges throughout Europe.

what a waste.

Not exactly in answer to the question but someone where I work has put this on the small ads page....

1960 FV701 Daimler Ferret in show condition and Road legal. (Who’s going to argue?)
Powered by a 4,260cc Rolls-Royce B60 In-line Six, feeding a Daimler Fluid Power coupling Gearbox and transfer box. For the adventurous: 5 forward gears. For the timid: 5 Reverse gears. For the shy: Turret (not fitted) For the very shy: 6 smoke grenade launchers. For the anti-social: Browning .30 calibre Machine Gun.
For the Talkative: Clansman Radio. For the accident-prone: Lots of armoured doors and hatches. For ‘Tyre Kickers:’ Broken toes. Rust? - you must be joking? Reason for sale – loss of storage facilities.

My dad was in Crash Rescue in the Air Force in the early 50's. They used B-17's, 26's and 24's to practice extraction and fire suppression. They would park the planes on the runway, light them on fire and chop their way in. In retrospect it makes you want to cry...

Shaun

the Barracks in the UK were I done my basic was an old airfield after the war they dug a massive pit and dumped lancasters and spitifres in it with the under carriage sliced off this is documented in the history of the airfield, I know france had enough panthers to equip 2 tank regiments most tanks were no doubt made into razor blades, many have been used as hard targets, and some have been built into foundations for roads ect there has been some articles about a KT and Pz1 which were used in this way. as for ammo well thousands of tonnes of surplus ammo was dumped in the Irish sea between scotland and Northern Ireland, form time to time these still wash ashore and quite recently loads were disturbed on the sea bed due to a gas pipe being laid I think they could detect them going off with earthquke measuring equipt

You can find old allied and German armored vehicles used as monuments all over the Ardennes. Some went to the Middle East - Remember the Syrian PzKpfw IVs on the Golan Heights in the 1967 War?

And many finished in "saucepens and related lids"...
Ciao

I saw B17s. PBYs and F7Fs used as airtankers on brushfires in California during the late 70's when I started my career.

We now use S2s, P2s and OV10 Broncos.

The B17 was marked T64 and had an old growler type siren the pilot sounded as he made his run to drop retardent!

Nothing was cooler to see than the B17 flying low and slow to make his drop.

As far as I know all posts here are correct. Aircraft were disposed of in many ways.
But most prototypes and experimental stuff were shipped back to USA, Britain and Russia for assessment and testing. Many ideas the Germans had have influenced todays aircraft in one way or another. For example the Focke Wulf Ta183 was a major influence on the MiG 15. Some say the MiG was a direct development of the Ta183.
Also the Hawker Hunter had striking similarities to the Messerschmitt Me P111O.
Bell in USA also experimented with a virtual copy of the captured Me P1101.
Plus many of the German designers joined both Western and Soviet aircraft companies after the war.
At least not all was wasted.
Peter
:-)

in reply to flitzer i remeber seeing in a book somewhere a german jet propelled plane(bomber?) with a striking resemblence to the B-2.

There's a British magazine out called "Military Vehicles" Darn those creative Brits! #:-)
In the magazine there's a "For sale" section where people sometimes list military vehicles for sale. There are some German tanks which end up in the mag every now and again. It's pretty rare to see an old tank show up in there though. Mostly post WWII stuff.

I did see a privately owned Sherman tank here in Sunny San Jose, CA a few years ago. I was just a kid and the owner let us walk around and look at it. Come to think of it, that experience may have been a key point in the development of this hobby for me.

There's a website (which charges subscription fees of $7) http://www.surplusjeeps.com for people seeking to purchase surplus military equipment. As I was unwilling to pay to get a list, I don't know if the list is US only or includes "foreign" vehicles. Might be worth a look.