Background

The Panzerspähwagen (Funk) P204(f) was a German command radio-equipped armored car based on the captured French Panhard 178. Command variants of the P204(f) used FuG 10 or FuG 11 radios, and the large Hochantenne (elevated) frame antenna, with some vehicles also fitted with a right-side telescopic mast. The Germans converted the P204(f) into a Funk vehicle by removing the APX3 turret and installing a fixed or open-topped armored box.

Panhard was a major French designer of armored cars, known for reliable and fast vehicles like the AMD 35 and later AML series. The 178 was one of the most advanced pre-war designs, so when Germany captured over 400 of them in 1940, they quickly put them to work in reconnaissance and security roles. The Germans redesignated it as the P204(f) and found its roomy hull ideal for converting into a communications and command vehicle.

Bob Sanchez has been in or around the military all his life. He was an "Air Force Brat" and credits his mom with getting him addicted to plastic modeling and airplanes. At the age of 10, Bob's mom came home with a Revell 1/32 scale P-51B and signed him up for the Military Book Club. From that point on, he was hooked! Bob Sanchez was in the USAF for 11 years as an Airborne Instrumentation/Telemetry Technician and flew on the Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft as a Chief Flight Examiner. He finished his enlistment with Project Speckled Trout as a Flight Test Engineer performing airborne Comm/Nav testing on the Air Force Chief of Staff airplane. He has over 1,200 flight hours in numerous aircraft to include the C-135C, EC-135E, EC-18B/D, E-9A, NASA 757, F-16C, F/A-18B, King Air, MH-53 Pave Low, Bell Jet Ranger and OH-6 Cayuse. Currently Bob is the Business Development Manager for a major aerospace defense contractor.