Leopard Tank History.

[Carson]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopard_tank#Leopard_1

My brother was a tank commander for Canada until 5 years ago. As I was perusing the Panzer forum, he mentioned that he believed the original Leopard Tank was designed during WWII by the Germans, but not developed until after the war. Is there any basis to this?

I enjoyed the thread on the Tiger at the Brandenburg Gate, so any leads to historical end of the war tank development websites would be appreciated!

[Adrian Stevenson]

The link you added to your post says it all. The Leopard was not an updated WW2 design. But it is still a very sound vehicle.

Cheers, Ade.

[Carson]

Thank you Ade.

I had read about the development being in the 1950's but wondered if there was any basis of some of the engineering from later WWII years. I will advise my brother he was wrong...... He now owes me a bottle of my choice!

Cheers!

[Jack T]

While the tank wasn't designed until 1955-56, there is one link to wartime Germany. The main designer was Dr. Ferry Porche, whose father was one of the designers of German tanks in WWII.