Mostly, it was because German tank design was piggy backing for a long time on pre-war designs.  The Panther and some TD's were really the only tanks the Germans designed after seeing how tank combat operated.  Even the Tiger had already been in development before the war, and changing its armour around would have essentially meant starting from scratch.  The Germans were more than happy to simply up gun and put on as much armour as possible on an older chassis rather than have to deal with inventing new tanks and new production lines.  Of course this meant they were hard-pressed to stay competitive in tank design, but it was all they could do with such a nasscient tank industry.  When you're only outputting a couple hundred a month, changing around the production line and style could cripple the chance of producing ANYTHING.

This is very correct. However, it should be pointed out that German armor WAS sloped...just not very much. Generally 10 degrees of slope on the boxy ones at the front. From what I understand, some design board reckoned that 10 degrees was more than enough to add deflection value to the armor. It was also reasoned that the increase in protection provided by armor with a steeper slope would be overshadowed by the decrease in usable internal space. This was a problem found in the T-34 which was confounded by the use of Christie type suspension.

This, I believe, is one of the reasons that the Panther is such a bulky tank (though about the same height as the M4 Sherman). So as to allow for a more roomy interior while still having sloped armor. And, to be clear, Panthers are pretty roomy inside for a tank.

Yeah I know, but that's basically a BAR.

But calling it by that name can be misleading. Implies that it is of American manufacture rather than Polish. Keep in mind that not everybody knows what that is, and such photos are great opportunities to explain such things.

Here is a photo so I'm not accused of being a buster.

German horse-drawn artillery in Russia (1941). The guns are 10.5cm leFH 18s. From a photo album of the 78th Panzer Artillery Regiment, though it could be another unit in the photo.

Can someone post the scope of the cannon of the M60 tank?

Ok, I've been looking into it and I'm about 75-85% sure that it is the same basic sight picture as the Abrams, or at least earlier models of it. At some point, they will start up the M60A1 and I'll see if the scope still works. There should be a secondary scope as well, but I haven't checked. That one should work without power.

Ah yes, Newport News Shipyard. Got stuck there for a year and a half and all I got was this photo.

The carrier in view is the USS Enterprise. The submarine in the foreground is the USS Toledo if my memory serves me correctly.

not sure if real

That is absolutely real. The ocean is an unimaginably powerful thing, and the US Navy does flight ops pretty much no matter what. Remember that if the planes aren't flying, it is just a giant, relatively helpless, metal box. So just as the escort ships must keep their radar and sonar going, so must the carriers keep their birds in the air.

Them's the Seaforth Highlanders if anyone was wondering.

Alright! Time for interior shots.

Driver's Position:




Assistant Driver/Bow Gunner:


Loader:


Gunner:





Didn't have time to show anything interesting from the commander's position, but there isn't much to see anyway.