Sd.Kfz. 140/1
Contents
Description
The Sd.Kfz. 140/1 is a rank I premium German light tank
with a battle rating of 1.7 (AB) and 2.0 (RB/SB).
General info
Survivability and armour
This vehicle is all-around better than the Flakpanzer I at the same BR in the tech tree. It has a 50mm front plate, a 30mm sloped turret, and four crew spaced out nicely.
Mobility
Speed and P/W ratio are both superior to the Flakpanzer I, being 58kph forward, 6kph backward, and 15.45hp/ton P/W ratio.
Armaments
Main armament
This tank is equipped with the FlaK 38 (20 mm), which is one of the better low-tier guns. It has good HE for taking out planes, 46mm pen AP-I, and 64mm pen APCR. Unlike the Flakpanzer I, the APCR belt is full APCR instead of half.
Machine Guns
This tank has a coaxial 7.92mm MG42 machine gun that is sufficient for hosing down flak trucks, but given that the main armament is already good at that job, a player will most likely never use this gun at all on this vehicle, unless jumped between reloads.
Usage in the battles
The Sd.Kfz.140/1 is simply better than the Flakpanzer I. Faster, more mobile, better-armored, not hull-breakable, better APCR belt, less wobbly suspension, and better survivability. It does the same job as its main tree brethren, flanking and taking out specific targets of opporitunity with the HVAP. Like the other two flackers, it cannot deal with B1 bis, B1 ter, or Valentine MkI at all, but otherwise it can shred everything it encounters.
The only cons it has vs the Flakpanzer I are gun depression of just -4 degrees, vs the Flakpanzer's -10 degrees, and slower turret traverse of 12.4 degrees/sec vs the Flakpanzer's 24.5 degrees/sec. Also, the reload rate is half what the Flakpanzer I or Gepard have, 7.6 seconds vs their 3.9 seconds.
Pros and cons
Summarize and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in a bulleted list. Do not use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - they have a substitution in the form of softer "inadequate", "effective".
Pros:
- Decent to good armor for the tier that can shrug off several reserve guns with poor shots
- Great penetration for 1.3 BR
- Great survivability, not hull breakable
- Good turret traverse for the tier
- Great mobility for the tier
- Less wobbly than Flakpanzer I
Cons:
- Low gun depression of -4 degrees
- Half the turret traverse of the Flakpanzer I
- Bigger profile
- Even longer reload between clips than main tree vehicles.
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ground vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/historical reference" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/Name-vehicles/historical reference) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to include links to sources at the end of the article.
In-game description
"The Aufklärungspanzer 38(t) reconnaissance tank was based on the Pz.38(t) towards the end of 1943, by the BMM construction office in Prague. The order specifications required a 20 mm automatic cannon and a 75 mm regular cannon.
A Praga AE engine with 160 hp at 2600 rpm replaced the Praga AC. This required a change in the exhaust system and the introduction of a longer exhaust pipe, which, together with a muffler, was put on the tank's roof. The tank's hull received a new superstructure, with modified inclination and with riveted joints for its armor plates.
The tank's armament consisted of a 20 mm automatic KwK38 L/55 cannon paired with a 7.92 mm MG42 machine gun. The guns could be pointed anywhere between -4 and 70 degrees and so could fire at air targets. The tank's ammunition included 300 shells and 1,500 machine gun rounds.
The open-top hexahedral turret, manufactured by the company Appelt, was equipped with a metal mesh to protect against hand grenades. The tank's armor thickness ranged from 8 to 50 millimeters. Its operational weight reached 9,750 kg. At this weight, its maximum highway speed was 52 kph, and its maximum highway range was 240 kilometers.
The Aufklärungpanzer 38(t) tank was accepted into the Wehrmacht in 1944, but large-scale production of the machine was never successfully introduced. A total of 70 tanks were produced.
The tanks were used on both the West and the Eastern Fronts.
Its design was successful, reliable, and advanced. However, the rivet joints in its armor plating were a disadvantage."
Media
An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.
Read also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,
- reference to the series of the vehicles;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
ETC.
Sources
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
