The Borden Panther

[David Dunlop]

Spinning off of the Grizzly Firefly thread, here is a photo of the Panther tank which was located at CFB Borden back in 1984.

At the time we got to see it, it had indeed just recently been sandblasted and repainted. Sadly, not only was the possibility of locating unit markings etc. on it lost, this particular Panther had also been noteworthy for possessing a complete covering of Zimmermit, anti-magnetic mine paste, the formula for which was lost during the war. Traces of the coating could still be seen in a few locations on the lower hull, above the tracks.

The other bit of information we learned about this Panther was that before it was put on display outside in Worthington Park, the engine had been removed. It was unclear what happened to it, but when the Panther was towed over to Worthington Park for display, it was discovered it sat nose low due o the loss of engine weight in the rear. To level it out, we were told cement was poured into the engine compartment. We could not verify that as all hatched had been tack welded shut.

If this vehicle is now at the Canadian War Museum, I hope they contact the armour museum in Germany for assistance on the history of this Panther. I know complete records have survived for much of the Tiger and King Tiger production and this information covers the vehicle from delivery date to each unit served with, repairs, rebuilds and dates of loss. Similar records may very well exist for the Panther. For the Tigers, the serial number was stamped into the front armour plating somewhere. It is apparently easy to spot because it was stamped. I believe part numbers were actually cast into the part in question and show up as raised numbers. A long shot, but probably worth looking into by the CWM.

Another memory just popped into my head. We were also told that a number of German tank parts had recently been recovered from one of the ranges at Borden. They were not sure what the vehicle had been but were aware a number of German armoured vehicles had arrived at Borden for evaluation after the war.

David