Gents,
I agree with Bill and Red Star, G model panther, a much more progessive design, easier and cheaper to produce, easier to transport, easier to recover damaged or disabled machines. Part of what makes a great AFV is its ability to be upgraded. The basic design of the Panther allowed it to be improved till the collapse. Sloped armour offers higher resistance to penatration vs verticial armour. As far as kills, look at the opponents,
Tigers slaughtered T-34 42 and 43 models like flies, but the Panthers would have also had they been developed earlier.
After Kursk, german soldiers increasingly had to watch for air attack from the growing red air force, I'd have wanted to be in a Panther after Kursk, before Kursk? Certianly a tiger....
Swamp
