I am trying to find information on the pneumatic hoses of the Flak18 trailer, which has been quite hard to find for me…
I think this gun was on Patton Museum:
There is a great walkaround at svsm.org, quite helpful but not enough. If anyone knows more photos of it, or clear wartime images of that area, I would appreciate it a lot.
Thanks for the link, but this is a different trailer, for the later Flak36.
If you look at the front one, the mudguard is longer and not rounded.
I’m not sure this would help…
H.P.
I know this 88 is NOT at the museum here in Kentucky. When the armor school moved from here to Fort Benning (or whatever it is called now), the Army probably took down there. I understand that they finally got their museum up and running last year, so check with them and they might be able to shed some light on your quest for more info.
@Frenchy thanks a lot, very useful. They do not solve all my questions but definitively a step forward. I did not know there existed another preserved gun at Bucharest!
@ayovtshev thanks for that beautiful image, it would have been good to see the coupling to the tractor but the soldier is standing exactly in front of it 
@Rich thanks for the information, I knew part of the museum had been moved. Unfortunately it is not easy to find where they went or photos of their current location…
You’re welcome Carlos!
I’ll check my refferencies when I get home, IIRC there was a picture that covers said area,
Cheers
Angel
Thanks Angel!
As you can see on these photos from Frenchy, there is a weird object (or two) that was temporary attached to the tow bar for towing:
But was not part of it:
I have seen it in other wartime photos, but never in detail or to know how it worked
Here’s another view of the Sonderanhanger 201 front end dolly
The US technical manual it comes from can be found here :
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/TM/PDFs/TME9-369A_Germ88.pdf
H.P.
Hi Carlos,
I’ve found some other pictures of Bulgarian Flak 18’s in my refference folder, but they show no clear view of the area in question.
It seems there are 2 kind of drawbars with Flak 18:
one like on the picture of Frenchy.Here’s another rendition
and a square cross-section drawbar, that ends with the tow eye- like on the picture from Bucharesti Military Museum(the blue gun), in the Manual Frenchy linked and what AFV Club offers in its kit.
The picture I posted earlier shows the second type of drawbar, while in this videoclip(1937 Tsar’s Military Excersize in Popovo/Kingdom of Bulgaria) at 5:41 one can clearly see the first type of drawbar used:
Hope this is of any help,
Cheers,
Angel
Thanks again, now I have some clues. Let me share my thoughts with you in case anyone can help, or use it in the future…
As I understand, compressed air comes from an external source (towing vehicle) to the tank, and from there to the wheel drums to operate the brakes. That seems easy and is clear.
The gun base has two pneumatic connectors, one at each end of the front and rear legs. Here I assume there is a pipe inside the base connecting both, therefore taking air from the front to the rear tanks. Connectors in tanks seem to confirm that.
But now my problems are:
I think these images show it more clearly:
Original images from svsm.org
BTW, while not in use the hoses were stored on top of the winches.
Just came across these…
The towing truck below has a Reichswehr licence plate (picture taken in April 1935)…The tow bar is the early one :
H.P.
