| P43 Bis | |
| Type: | Heavy tank |
| Is Vehicle: | yes |
| Length: | 8.16m (26.77feet) |
| Width: | 3.04m (09.97feet) |
| Height: | 2.24m (07.35feet) |
| Weight: | Over 29 tonnes (33 short tons) |
| Engine: | V12 Diesel |
| Primary Armament: | 1x Ansaldo Cannone da 90/42 (?)64 rounds |
| Armour: | 80-100 mm (frontal)50mm (lateral) |
| Pw Ratio: | 14 hp/t |
| Engine Power: | 420 hp |
| Crew: | 5 |
| Speed: | 40km/h |
| Design Date: | April 1943 |
| Is Artillery: | yes |
The P.43 Bis was a proposed Italian heavy tank (P=pesante; in English: heavy) designed in April 1943,.[1] It was created as a direct continuation and replacement P26/40 tank; however only a prototype was manufactured at the end of the summer of 1943.
The P43 or P 30/43 was developed by FIAT and Ansaldo simultaneously with the P26/40, of which it was supposed to be a heavier version. The vehicle was planned to have weighed at least 30 tons and would have mounted an engine of 420 hp. The gun was the same as the P.26 - the 75/34 mm cannon. While it was still in the design phase, it was proposed to use the 90/42 gun derived from anti-aircraft Cannone da 90/53,[2] [3] or the 105/25 mm cannon mounted on the Semovente da 105/25 instead.[4]
A photograph of P43 as a wooden mockup exists (probably on a smaller scale) along with other models of P40 and P43 bis, 30 tons with cannon that looks like it could be a lighter version of the 90/53 piece. In the same picture, there is a model of a German Panther version slightly smaller and with what is likely a 90/53 cannon. It is possible that the German part stigmatized the P43 as a plagiarism of the Panther tank (that Italy had received blueprints for the production in license). It seems that this model has received the abbreviation P43 bis (perhaps for the observed inability to get quickly to the production of the P43 with a piece of 90 mm).
This overlap of studies can be originated either by news from the Russian front on the new Soviet medium tank T-34/85 of 32 tons and with 85 mm cannon (derived from the anti-aircraft gun) or by the availability of data and drawings of the German Panther.
According to various publications the engines should have been these:
Frontal protection of 80/100 mm would guarantee equal performance with the machines designed by other nations, such as the Russian 1944 IS-2 of 46 tons (which was 122 mm), the Tiger I of 57 tons and higher than the Panther of 45 tons, which was 80 mm.
However the P43 was only made in a prototype in 1943.