What Happened To The Antarctic Snow Cruiser?
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- Опубліковано 14 вер 2021
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Seventeen meters long, six meters wide, and weighing more than 34,000 kg, the Antarctic Snow Cruiser was unlike any exploration vehicle the world had ever seen. Designed to tackle the most difficult and inhospitable place on earth, five explorers would live, work and sleep aboard the machine in isolation while they ventured into uncharted regions of Antarctica. Equipped with enough food, fuel and supplies to last an entire year, the Snow Cruiser would carry the latest surveying instruments and tools. The enormous land cruiser would even carry a survey aircraft moored to its roof.
By 1939 a global race was underway to claim portions of Antarctica. With the prospect of huge oil, coal and mineral reserves under the ice, Norway, Britain, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand had all claimed large portions of the continent for themselves. Alarmed at the prospect of territorial claims, U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt established the U.S. Antarctic Service Expedition. It would be the first U.S. government sponsored expedition in decades, and would set sail for Antarctica in the fall of 1939.
The Antarctic Snow Cruiser would have a special role to play. Its main objective would be to reach the South Pole (only two prior expeditions had ever set foot on the South Pole prior to 1939). During its months-long trek, the Snow Cruiser and it’s aircraft would make surveys along its course, and in just a few months the Americans were expecting to explore more of Antarctica than all previous expeditions combined. The ambitious effort would help the Americans establish their own territorial claim on the continent.
But in the race to leave for Antarctica by the fall of 1939, the Snow Cruiser would have to be constructed in just 11 weeks, an incredibly short amount of time for such an ambitious, first of its kind machine. Soon, it would become abundantly clear that the Cruiser had been over-designed and under-tested, with extreme optimism seemingly guiding it’s design.
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images: www.gettyimages.com/
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The fact that it's missing, and it's whereabouts haven't been reported for more than half a century - but knowing it's absolutely still out there somewhere...it's kind of haunting. Definitely fascinates me.
The machine had enough issues to fail as it was, but the GIANT BALD TIRES will always bewilder me. Despite its lack of power, it really could’ve been an accomplishment if the development team put any effort into traction.
This thing really has that retro-futuristic post-apocalypse feel to it. Like something from Snowpiercer.
What I love about the early to mid 20th Century engineering is that, regardless of how insane some ideas sounded on paper, they gave it a go. Wild planes, hovering-sea behemoths, strange vehicles and ideas all round just had their turn to have 15-minutes in the limelight. As laughable as some things sound to us today, you can't fault them for their relentless pursuit of seeking out revolutionary new ventures and discovery.
Damn, it kinda haunts me to think that this machine is either under tens of meters of snow, with it's rooms pitch dark and the instruments and everything completely untoched for decades or in a freezing ocean, completely rotten and barely in one piece. We can't find it but we know it's there, which is also kinda sad.
Engineers: We're designing the most unstoppable machine meant to handle the most difficult terrain on earth!
We were on a road trip in Michigan with my 80 year old grandmother who suddenly had a memory return to her from childhood. She asserted she saw a very strange, large vehicle with massive round tires moving very slowly when she was outside waiting for the school bus when she was very young. My dad never heard the story before but knew it had to be Admiral Byrd's Arctic Snow Cruiser making its way to the coast!
my dad was one of the Seabees that found it in 1958. they actually slept in it, because it was superior to the shelters they had. he said everything worked once they fueled it up and charged the batteries. not sure about the tires, they didn't actually drive it or move it.
As soon as I heard about what this thing was designed to achieve, I know solely from the fact that I had never heard of it before that it was going to be a hopelessly bad failure.
Is it just me, or do the visuals improve a lot with every new upload? Easily makes every new video worth the wait!
I would love to own one!
This thing actually looks awesome
it's sad that all these unique machines get abandoned, i'd love to see them in a museum
Kids literally slide down snowy hills riding in inner tubes. WHY did they think this would work, why? :D
The cameraman on the roof of a car, the crew on the roof of the cruiser as it slips off the ramp is insane
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Those renders are stunning. Congrats to the 3d artist.
My grandfather was a Marine who became the radioman and equipping operator of the Snow Cruiser, I still have large files of documents, magazine articles, memorabilia, video, photographs (including a nice view of the ramp before it collapsed under the weight as shown), Byrd letters to my grandfathers parents and his own personal writings on the project. Working on his version currently, this is a very good piece.
Thanks. Good video. I'm never 100% sure I can make money. Never place 100% of your savings in just one type or type of investment
At the Cummins Heritage Center, I just located a number of local news articles about the Antarctic Snow Cruiser. Dr. Thomas C. Poulter was the designer. He visited the Cummins Engine Plant in Columbus, IN in August 1939 to confer with engineers about the engines. The Snow Cruiser was built by the Research Foundation of the Armour Institute of Technology. Clessie Cummins, our Founder, rode on the leg of the trip to the East from Chicago to the Gary Sand Dunes and told his brother Deloss that the new Snow Cruiser was like "tying four pigs together and trying to drive them through a narrow alley."