Kubinka KV
tank not KV-85 !!!!! In Kubinka is KV-1S with test 85 mm gun. KV-85 is imposedammunitionfor tank gun in a place where he had a position in the KV-1 / 2 machine gunner .Logically - why not a machine gun on the left side of the hull.
Only preserved KV-85 is located on the memorial in Avtovo - Moscow. Unfortunately, he was quite poorly restored after the war and was welded onto thegunport with machine gun on the left side of the hull. Since then this error periodically repeated in all publications and drawings.
All the evidence shown so far shows that the only 2 KV-85's surviving today actually have MG's in the bow position. How about sharing some of your sources so we could get this right? I'm specifically interested in what information you based the following assertions upon:
1.
The KV-85 that is in Kubinka is actually a KV-1S with a "test" 85mm cannon mounted. What's your source for this? I checked the Kubina tank museum's official website
http://www.tankmuseum.ru/p1.html and note that the Kubinka tank museum is calling their tank a KV-85 (which is further identified by the museum's website as a KV-1S chassis with an 85mm cannon). I don't see any mention about the cannon being a "test" or experimental model. If the Russians (who built it) are calling that tank a KV-85...(and they are), I say ok, it's a KV-85. I note that many wartime photos show other KV-85s with the bow mg plugged (ostensibly to facilitate ammunition stowage), but also I think it is probable that there were some non-typical KV-85 prototypes that retained the bow MG and were built on a KV-1S chassis...and at minimum, Kubinka has one.
2.
The KV-85 (on the pedestal) in Avtovo (Saint-Petersburg)http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...front_view.jpg has had a inaccurate restoration during which a MG was incorrectly added to the bow position. What's your source for this? You're talking about the one on the pedestal right? I think that your claim could be correct, but...I'd like to know how you know this, so we could all be sure.