Vehicle faces the enemy. In both anti-aircraft mode or ground attack, the likely hood of needing traverse to 45 degrees each side is remote. The gun simply won’t turn fast enough to follow an aircraft on that line anyway. If the gun did have to turn so far, if it turned clockwise, the loader would have to be in the driver’s seat as there is no platform there. Turned anti-clockwise, the rear ‘half’ platform floor, whether removable or not, would be over the rear seat and plenty of room for him to move on. There is no need for the platform to be where the commander is.
To me, it appears that the pic shows parts of the standard platform:
The floor would need to be supported on something, but the supports for the floor would not need to be right in the corners, nor would the floor need to be completely outside the standard platform. - it would have to be inside the spare wheel compartment:
To be able to mount a floor inside, you need to be able to get in and bolt/weld it to the vehicle floor. Side doors would give access, but an open space at the top is better.
Don’t forget that the fuel filler in the Horch 108 IA is inside the compartment near where the central seat was located and the crew would still need access to that:
There is no need for support directly under the gun as the tri-form base takes care of that by bridging between the front and rear dividing walls of that central passenger compartment. Again this is not a pedestal mounted gun as was the example Angel showed us earlier.
Here was my possible solution (built some years ago) but I still don’t think this is correct but merely conjecture on my part.
Body stiffening divider walls front and rear probably provide all the support necessary for the gun base.
The forward footpads of the tri-form gun base appear to hook over the top flange of the forward dividing wall quite securely.
I deleted the sole pad off the foot of the rear most leg of the gun base. Also adding just one small mounting fixture/support bracket to the rear wall of the passenger compartment to physically secure the gun.
Peter, I very much like your idea of a floor with one or more removable sections to still access the seats and the lower floor below. Your idea solves both questions at once: what exactly is the commander standing on and what is the loader standing on?
The best/only shot I have of the interior body area of the Horch:
I think what Robin meant was that the floor would need to be supported under the gun platform close to where the platform feet were. to minimise any flex or bounce, if the floor was sheet steel. Kind of like preventing the trampoline effect of having supports on the outside edge and nothing inside.
I may now have to build a drop in wood floor for this model based on Peter’s suggestions.
It would not need to be welded or bolted into the vehicle but rather made to just stand within this tightly enclosed space on vertical legs. It only has to support the weight of one or two crewmen servicing the gun and the lift out flooring over the rear seat could be just a couple of wide boards with not much other framing.
p.s. Based on the amount of the loader’s feet we see in the original opening photograph this decking would not have to cut around the spare tire wells at all, for it is above them and therefore could be supported by them. - There’s two of your support legs right there!
I strongly doubt that the sheet metal divider between the front seat and the rear area is strong
enough to support the weight of the gun and the recoil forces when firing.
I would go for two feet forward, one foot aft, the way Mike did it but I would not trust that dividing wall to carry the loads…
With only one leg to the rear there will be room to sit on that bench. One man to the left and one man to the right of the leg.
Of course I can’t comment any further on the strength of those dividing walls as they could easily require some additional strengthening. Better safe than sorry!
As Robin said one floor support on top of each interior spare tire wheel well and one in the middle rear might do it. Then give us some removable deck boards over the left and right rear seats.
So seating for four. Commander, Gunner, Loader and Driver/Loader.
Some thread/blog/reference section on Horches on some tapatalk forum
Google did the searching, I just asked about Horch 1A or Horch 108
Maybe these field conversions were made using the design principle “You use what you have”
The structure behind that missing door looks like heavy timber to me.
The Germans used timber frame loaded onto the loadbeds of Opel Blitz trucks so they did use wood in some cases, “field expedient” …
Different vehicle. This one has a Flak 30, not Flak 38 by the looks of it - note the flash supressor and shape of the gun shield, short top sections:
Getting back to the original, where are this guy’s feet? Maybe this is the same guy and he has half sized legs?
…and this guy is watching where his feet are and holding onto the gunner seat for support, suggesting he may be standing on the single platform arm and there is a hole to fall into.
Seems to support the theory the seat is still useable.
So the happy converter Führer would have the choice of building a strong enough wall to hang the gun legs over or constructing one or two support structure(s) to support the two legs …
