What Happened To The Antarctic Snow Cruiser?
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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.
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Thanks for watching!
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.
I feel quite the same. I feel the same way about spacecraft we've lost in space. We know it's out there, but can not prove it and likely never will. I often imagine what the instruments inside look like having not been used or touched in decades. I'm a very sentimental person and thoughts like this make me sad, but I enjoy thinking about them. Lol
Definitely good cameo in a thriller series set in Pole.
@@leviferrero6068 Totally. I often think about the stuff that was left on the moon. Like, we all know they left the moon rovers (the buggy vehicles they drove around) and flags and whatnot. But I recently also learned that they took a ton of pictures in highly specifically designed cameras. But to cut the weight so that they could return, the only brought back the film. They left on the moon all of these highly specifically engineered cameras. And it's just wild to me that if someone went back, all of this stuff from the 60's would still be there, and probably still work.
@@leviferrero6068 stuff like that fascinates me as well, like how you mentioned it with space, I mostly have that feeling with the ocean. There's a lot of machinery, ships, and all kinds of stuff that was forgotten. Went through a (too) thin layer of ice, or fallen off ships. Simply sitting on the ocean floor, human technology that may never be found again. Since the vehicle of this video never made it far, and considering how much ice already melted. It is most likely already down in the arctic sea. It's fascinating to know it's out there, but also knowing we wont find it ever again.
It’s probably half buried in snow and ice somewhere. The wreck of a land ship.
i'd never heard of this contraption before, definitely gave me fallout vibes
Hey welyn what are you doing here? Hoping they found some pumpkins?
I forget KZheadrs watch other KZheadrs videos 😂
Yes. Yes! YES!!!
I'd say that it gives off more Metro 2033 vibes.
Time to build the PumpkinMobile. Also, I feel like this would be a great idea for a survival game / research game. Gotta keep running that big land boat and discover Antartica.
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.
We still do it - Space Ship 2, Hyperloop, Iter, Large Hadron Collider - to name a few. The difference is that we can rely far less on trial and error than they had to.
We're not past it yet my dude. Just look at the drivel coming from the likes of Elon Musk. Extreme optimism backed by practically nothing in the way of research and engineering. Moronic ideas that might sound cool in a science fiction novel but sound absolutely ridiculous in real life, and many wouldn't even sound cool in science fiction, but would instead serve best as symbols of an extremely inefficient society and massive wealth inequality. I'll keep faulting people for trying to reinvent the wheel and coming up with all sorts of ideas that aren't round. Be they engineers in the past working on limited knowledge or industry magnates today working on nothing but greed and public misinformation.
Well said
@@EustaH don't insult CERN's actual scientists by mentioning Elon Musk as if he's in the same league
@@lucyx3008 I’ve never mentioned Elon once in the comment ;) Also, yeah, guys who actually give funds to CERN are in similar league of making unrealistic promises to boost their PR, collecting people’s money for the sake of those promises and then never delivering (various polititians)
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.
Yeah, that's what I think about. I think about how I am just sitting here, and somewhere in the world is a piece of time frozen 17k Fathoms deep underwater for about 80 years in the dark, murky waters, waiting to be discovered again but it won't with the rising water levels
Bro, if it’s in the water it’s probably in BETTER condition. Cold water is perfect for preservation especially if it’s submerged suddenly
@@alexanderwatson9983 Yeah, but when it dropped down to a certain level it probably imploded since there was so much space in it that was free
Surprisingly, in 1963, crew aboard the U.S. naval icebreaker, the USS Edisto, discovered an iceberg in the Ross Sea that appeared to contain remnants of the Little America III camp (Aka the camp that used the cruiser). Based on analysis of a Little America III map, photos, and calving dynamics along the Ross Ice Shelf, Ted Scambos and Clarence Novak, speculate that the Snow Cruiser ended up on a separate iceberg than the one the Edisto encountered: one that calved separately, or perhaps broke off the Edisto berg. Based on how most icebergs broken off this area of the shelf behave, Scambos and Novak suggest the Snow Cruiser likely ended up dumped into the Ross Sea and now rests on the seafloor, amid other Little America III detritus, somewhere along where the ice front stood circa 1962. So yeah, that means that it’s probably in water. Though there are some good news: As the depth over that place is from 400m to 800m, rescuing it would be possible, plus frozen waters generally preserve metal and wood much easier.
@@TwohundredSeventy Sea levels aren't the problem, it's the fact that the are we believe it might be in has since been covered by ice, so sending in a ship to scan the seafloor isn't feasible right now. We will have to wait until the coastline changes again to reveal that area of water.
Ahh, so this is what the lads at top gear were hoping to make
Hammond would have crashed it anyway
hAmmOnD WhErE iS BiG ThInG iCe !!?!??!?!? cRaSh iCe aGaIn !?!?!?!
“Hammond you idiot” Jeremy Clarkson. 2007
@@depilot2035 I feel like this thing would've crashed itself before hammond could've set his fingers on it
To night on arctic gaer, hanomd crashes a American Kharkovchanka, James wants to shoots some penguins, and so do i
Is it just me, or do the visuals improve a lot with every new upload? Easily makes every new video worth the wait!
@Low Tier God huh
Hell yeah, love this content!
@Low Tier God this is the funniest shit i’ve read today
I just watched their "Behind the scenes" video on Nebula, which makes it all clear that they evolved on visuals. They started of with basic 3D modelling software and are now getting into the more serious stuff.
They are the reason for the worldwide GPU shortage
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!
Interestingl
it’s true, and it was a huge pain to get to the coast since it couldn’t go via railroad…i have seen pictures of it in Massachusetts causing chaos along the road as it passed by under railroad bridges on its way to the Boston Army Terminal
Nash
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.
I wouldn't doubt that if clicked into gear it would have ambled away. They built things to work back in the day.
@@SlickArmor I’m sure it was mostly buried by snow after sitting there nearly 20 years - no reason to fully dig it out if they weren’t planning to move it.
@@Sashazur I'm sure you're probably right. I just said since they said it started up I'm sure it would have driven if they decided to dig it out and greese it up. Things were built to a very low tolerance therefore they hardly seized up.
even if the diesel engines wouldn’t start they’re just there to charge the generator for the electric motors, you could rig something to bypass them a d run off of battery power until the engines were fixed…the thing just needs some TLC and it’d moved again
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.
Yea I thought it was really dumb
@@RazorbackGrasshopper Especially so because they already had tested different types of motorized vehicles in Antarctica in the first three decades of the 1900's. By the 1920's the British found that tracked-vehicles worked the best on thick snow and ice. Some of the early tracked vehicles were modified cars with specially designed snow-tracks going in a continuous loop around the triple pair of rear wheels. Sort of half-tracks for snow. By the 1930's tracked vehicles was nothing new and tanks had progressed quite a bit since World War One. Bulldozers and early excavators also ran on tracks. So why the engineers went back to smooth, tires when continuous tracks (caterpillars) already had been proven to work both in Antarctica and in the other desolate regions of the world, is perplexing. It's perfectly obvious tracks distribute the total weight of the vehicle more evenly and the contact patch with the ground is much larger. I saw another video about this 1939 Snow Cruiser and according to him the engineers had no prior experience with designing a vehicle made to go through rough terrain or snow. What they thought worked in *theory* hadn't even been tested with a small-scale model first. Even by the standards of the 1930's this was amateurish. The insane weight of this thing too should have made somebody yell:"Stop! This is too heavy, it'll obviously be a serious liability and get stuck in no time." And the uneven weight-distribution proved the engineers who designed this thing didn't really know what they were doing. It would appear as if their ambition way outweighed their experience and common sense.
Yeah,nowadays we have studded tires for ice,but even those don't offer insane traction,so given how smooth those huge ass tires are i think the biggest flaw wasn't the lack of power or speed either,it was the fact that smooth rubber + smooth ice = "you spin my head right round right round" =))))))))))
i wonder why they didnt just use any number of the tracked vehicles or even tanks that were being produced for the war anyway. They're both meant to operate in similar offroad conditions and rough terrain as could be seen in antarctica.
@@McLarenMercedes To be fair, heavy tracked vehicles in these early days tended to throw their rigid tracks quite often and unexpectedly, in particular when solid objects (such as rocks, ice or packed snow) got between the track and sprockets/rollers. The heavier the vehicle, the more crew (and machinery, past a certain scale) was needed to reinstall the track, supposing none of its elements got damaged in the event. I'm only speculating, but the choice of wheels that can be bolted on/off with simple hand tools might have been a more reasonable choice considering the weather and terrain conditions the machine would be faced with, as well as fuel constraints since tracks inherently have a lot more friction. Now, using slick tires, this puzzles me as much as anyone else, you live and learn I guess?
This thing really has that retro-futuristic post-apocalypse feel to it. Like something from Snowpiercer. I mean what a concept. It’s an Antarctic research base, a land-based aircraft carrier, and a multi-terrain cruiser all in one vehicle.
If you run a channel, you need the weiro gear! KZhead jobs!
The way you described it made me think "wheres the gun turrets on this thing" 😂
It’s the cold weather version of the Landmaster from Damnation Alley. Which came years later.
Feels like a vehicle in an open-world exploration game that you return to for new missions and resupplying.. And now I've said that I'd quite like that.
The russian one was even better. I can't remember which channel made that video though but it was one of the "Mustard"-types.
The cameraman on the roof of a car, the crew on the roof of the cruiser as it slips off the ramp is insane
At 0:34, is that the ship Endurance that they found recently? If so, it gives hope that even if the snow cruiser is down at the bottom of the ocean, we’ll still be able to get a glimpse of it with remote vehicles…
Engineers: We're designing the most unstoppable machine meant to handle the most difficult terrain on earth! Also engineers: Yeah, we're gonna put slicks on it.
Its such like 1940's engineering to be like "Treads? No we shouldnt put treads, snow will just get stuck in them" WHAT?
@@robmausser Funny enough soviets made their own cheap antarctic cruisers based on a preexistent agricultural crawler and these machines are still in use to this day or at least were in use until very recently.
They probably were hoping the large diameter and the massive weight would solve the traction.
Prolly thought there was only ragged ice that the slick could grip on.
@@robmausser farm truck thinking
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.
Have you heard of the Kharkovchankas?
@@hakrsakr Oh yea almost forgot about them, Calum made a great video on them.
@@hakrsakr just looked them up there looks like that's what I'll be spending my evening looking into.
soon as I saw the tires I knew this was a fail they put F1 tires on a snow machine 😂😂
@@blick9538 it would be very over budget "all-American-made-parts" and probably not one big vehicle, but a group of smaller ones that could also be sold to the public.
I would love to own one!
Yeah...
i would to if i could store it, drive it, and generally use it. it'd be more like a glorified tiny house.
Nah you should own a Tacoma instead
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."
Cummins sucks
We need to talk about how amazing these 3D models are. This artist is seriously good.
7
Yes They're Damn Good!
@@user-bb9hd7vp3s 7
This is cartoon to what some of these programmes can do must have been on a 1990 budget but it gets the point across maybee the way the guy wanted it too look like nice bit of work defiantly looks like blender was used . I use it myself if you fancy giving ut a go its download able free . I'll tell this for free too you can lose a week in it in a ..,day if you get what I mean ,
an example of how important blueprints / reference images are. I'm modeling this right now and these images are godsend.
Kids literally slide down snowy hills riding in inner tubes. WHY did they think this would work, why? :D
because big and cool
Nice to see Goodyear's tire design is a lasting legacy from earlier ages. Don't see devotion to history like that very often...
easy, engineer didnt but they couldn't equip it with tires that would work because of time limitations
@@abramo7700 I like your name 😎
That is simple, when scientists do things its all about theory .Common sence is what the typical scientists lack amd most can't even tie their own shoes.
This thing actually looks awesome
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
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I came across this name John Joseph when I was really looking to start up some investments. But I wasn't given much information about him.
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. Edit- wow, really didn’t expect this kind of input and will do a video, have started gathering my clips, been meaning to so thanks to all for the push Retired as Lt. Colonel, Felix Ferranto, got a mountain named for his work and we just published a book in 2019 “34 Months” detailing his time as. Korean POW, which came a decade later, and haven’t touched WWII yet. Google him, more coming on our website and KZhead soon. Thanks for the push.
get this popular right now, btw that's really cool maybe you could make your own video about it?
That's incredible.
Does that documentation include location information? It would be interesting to find it, maybe even bring it back for display as it is an important part of humanities exploration of the unknown!
Plz make a video! I love anything admiral byrd
Any id e a where its at?
it's sad that all these unique machines get abandoned, i'd love to see them in a museum
it is at a museum
@@guilcarr802 nope, the antarctic snow cruiser was lost.
@@guilcarr802 no its not.
@@lucasrem Coventry's car museum has the world's fastest car, the first (and only one) to break the sound barrier.....
also worth noting that the Norwegians drove a snowcat across the antarctic back in the 1950's. The Russians built their own snowcruiser and pulled off something similar in the late 50's, driving to the south pole....of course neither vehicle used smooth treadless tires!
The part that always stuck with me was that the real flaw with this thing was the tires. If you could replace the tires with an improved tread you might have a viable vehicle for that region.
Extremely interesting and very well put together.. I can’t manage to pay attention to anything for more than 2min usually, you had me from beginning to end here. Earned a fan and a sub with this unique effort. Keep up the great work and your fine attention to detail. It is very much appreciated and your enthusiasm well shared. Thank you all, so much! Take care, God bless 2022
If we ever find it again, dibs on getting it running!
Now that would be an epic video
Just getting there will be an amazing feat
Shotgun!
@@kanedaku Shot... AW MAN!
MOOK gets to sit on my lap 🤪
"We need to design this vehicle's drive system to be reliable in deep snow." "Huge, smooth balloon tires!" Its like the engineers have never seen snow in their lives.
Chicago hasn’t seen snow?
This was made and designed in the Midwest, the guys who made it have seen snow. It’s definitely strange that these guys never took this thing into Wisconsin, Minnesota, or Canada considering how terribly cold those places are. The terrain would be different, but driving on ice and snow should have been tested more thoroughly
Yep, the guy who thought smooth tires would do anything at all in those conditions must've had a smooth brain.
Also, the "the threads would fill up with snow and ice anyways". That's the whole point! Snow on snow has really good traction. Did they not have winter tires in 1939?
They did plenty of research. Someone went all the way down to Antarctica, took one look at the penguins slithering around on their tummies, and said to himself, "THIS."
Right from the start of this I could see the tyre were going to be an issue, so when you said it struggled on a wet road it made my day. Sahame it didn't achieve it's goals but that's what happens when ideas are rushed.
That is so sad! There needs to be an expedition to locate this beast and bring her home!
"With so much excitementy and publicity, there was no turning back". The phrase that makes any and every engineer scream in rage.
I cackled when he said that. But I'm a mechanic, not an engineer. We tend to laugh at the suffering of engineers because they laugh at ours. It's a love-hate relationship.
And scientist
I imagine architects have shared feelings haha
What about the famed "too big to fail?"
Ironically they ended up driving backwards...
This is one of those vehicles that looks way bigger than it really is, which is impressive considering it's already gigantic. Also, who greenlit putting smooth tires on a vehicle that was supposed to traverse snowy terrain? No wonder it failed.
Plus they theorized from magazines as shown. And always the information provided isn't guaranteed to be true. They should have given the vehicle spiked wheels.
@@firebird1cool798 maybe steel wheels even
I honestly cant think of a worse choice than smooth balloon tires.
@Low Tier God ... what?
@@2MeterLP no tyres
Totally remarkable! It's surprisingly engaging and entertaining.
These videos are so amazing. Amazing work 👏
Can’t fool me, that’s some real life footage right there- wait…it’s a 3D model? Well my life is a lie...
That’s what my dad thought
...tion. finish your words, fucking hell.
Well fuck.
Well shit
Illusion 100
Those renders are stunning. Congrats to the 3d artist.
Yeah, the hangar scene jumped out at me. This is going to sound dumb, but we may be looking at the makings of a sequel to Desert Bus VR.
I agree. Imagine how renderings will look in 20 years!
Amazing video and thank you for mate
This video is very helpful for us. It was good machein for the people of that time.
When the world needed him the most, he reappeared.
he's just playing favorites with nebula, that's all
@Low Tier God Lames so jealous of my natural hairline and it shows….
Just wait until he discovers Admiral Richard Byrd
So you actually went to Antarctica to get this footage? Im impressed at your effort! *Another great video besties !*
@Jad El Moukaddem r/wooosh
Jk
Hello, love your vid :))
Can anyone link me to a video of Antarctic exploration done in colour video at least?
@Jad El Moukaddem whoosh!
I had not heard of this thing previously, but I saw that it traveled through my town. I looked up old news article on it. Wow. It was a big deal.
I found this masterpiece documentary now. Really exited because I 3D modelled, printed and builded this monster one month ago. ❤
-Hey John! -What? -Should we put any sort of tread on the tires for traction? -Nah mate, sounds like work. -You have a point. It's not like there's several feet of snow and ice where it's going.
Such a shame. Bunch of idiots in-charge of engineering
@@MarloSoBalJr Don't think its that simple, there is of course a reason behind that decision. It would probably be very challenge to pattern a wheel of such a size or perhaps the added forces would lead to damage. Most projects have to hit deadlines and cost points. You have to cut corners somewhere to hit those points. Part of the process. edit: video explains this point
@@KnowledgePerformance7 But the thing is, you absolutely cannot cut corners when it comes to something like this.
@@SirBroccolingtonIII yes clearly. But they did. The machine was not tested in snow before it's deployment.
@@MarloSoBalJr isn't that always the case?
"The car will be going through snow Johnny!" What about some Goodyear F1 slicks?
Someone heard they needed to get there fast and had watched just ONE too many drag races.
Smooth tires = smooth brain decision
Great narration, so easy to listen to.
That was very interesting. Thank You
I had read that, at the time, they didn't fully understand the physics of the snow in Antarctica. At those temperatures it doesn't behave like most of us are used to. Instead of having any stickiness or grip it behaves like a sand. The crystals are frozen so solid they don't pack or stick to one another, so they stay separate. Again, like a fine sand.
Yeah snow gets like that pretty quickly below zero. It only stays sticky close to its melting point.
Wow I had never thought of this. I have always just thought snow was snow. How interesting!
Yep, but still.. slick tires to begin with? Amazing brains
@@leviferrero6068 hell no, snow is very very different depending on the temperature, how old it is, how much of it has been laying around and whether the sun has melted parts of it before it refroze
@Dynamo Disc get a life
I would actually love a minifigure scale Lego set of this.
I need a transformers version now
@@insanimal2 send me your credit card info and I'll make it happen
@@stoptrudeau42 AHAHAHAHAHAHA
that'd actually be cool af, it looks like a Lego set lol
It would fit in the Arctic collection, a very good looking sub-theme of City.
Over 1.2 million subscribers, 37 videos. We want more! Love your channel.
I just love the designs of that decade and the animations
My father-in-law was on this expedition. I have his scrapbook. He was a corpsman on the USS Bear. He said of the Snow Cruiser (known to the crews as Penguin One) that they used it as a hotel!
Wow that is incredible.
My god, that’s amazing
@@TheCrowOfJudgement This isn't that cool
@@GAMER123GAMING shut please
@@rogertycholiz2218 I just said this isn't that cool. What is so wrong with your ability to understand what is going on?
If we did a modern build of this behemoth I think it could work. Modern electric engines, redone tire design, and new materials could cut weight, increase speed and possibly horse power, and effectiveness in snow and adverse environment
i mean by the time it's built, there isnt gonna be much snow left to explore
No need, we already saw this kind many times, as those huge truck carry ICBM in Russia.
Basically Snowcats.
Why if we have robots?
@@snoboring4846 Then we just have to wait for a century until the snow inevitably returns. I'd imagine 400 years ago Antarctica was largely stone and smooth thick ice sheets instead of snowy, and likewise 100 years ago it would've been less snowy than it was 50 years ago, hence why over the seasons the cruiser is now buried in snow even in the warmest months down there. Do keep in mind the start of the 20th Century had droughts, heat waves, wildfires and people dying of heatstroke and/or dehydration. Its just a matter of waiting for the cycle to return to the colder periods once again, a cycle that's been going on since around when man first walked the Earth.
"Unfit for human life" 😂 I love this channel and its content and research are usually terrific so I'll overlook that
The fact it's out there somewhere keeps me up at night
"We've built the ultimate exploration vehicle, let's go!" "Can't, it's damp." I think I'd have retired after that experience.
I'm no engineer but my first reaction seeing these "good year" tyres was: "This has to be a joke".
no need to be an engineer to notice garbage design and poor decision, lol
Murican engineering
Yea but people back then were try Americans and everything was made in the USA and not China.
@@oleksandrchubras9549ep, that's probably why we own everything today. Because whIle you idiots keep insulting us, we're building more better and faster. Funny how you forgot that only a few years after this world war broke out and we literally whooped the s*** out of everybody while fighting two fronts.
Goodyear racing slicks no less. No wonder it failed so epicly! 😏
God this is so cool. I would have loved to see this in a museum. So badass looking.
What a great story. Thanks 🙏
Why was the Snow Cruiser's speed in reverse limited? One of the features of electric motors, that they actually have in common with steam engines along with virtually unlimited torque, is that they are just as happy running backwards as forwards; direction of travel shouldn't matter to an electric drive motor. So why was it a problem here?
Visibility maybe
Steering system?
My Prius did 107MPH and you're damn right that it should have done so in reverse as well
I cant image driving with backwards steering and facing backwards all day for weeks on end
Back up a vehicle without mirrors and most of your windows blocked. Let's see how long it takes you to figure this question out
I can only imagine the frustration of the people actually working on this when the project was rushed at the last minute. There had to have been quite a few designers, engineers and mechanics who knew for sure the thing would horrendously fail, especially after even the trip from Chicago to Boston was botched so badly.
Honestly, the second I saw the pictures of it, my first thought was "why are the tires, racing slicks?"
Smooth tires on snow was all anyone needed to see that this thing wasnt going to do a fraction of the stuff it's supposed to, but a very innovative idea nonetheless
@@jwalster9412 Yep, maybe hindsight, but as someone who lives in a climate with lots of snow, slicks would be stupid. "No other tires existed" bullshit, tractor tires would be so much better, and they are large, even back then. Next facepalm. "Four 75hp Electric motors". Look, diesel electric IS a good strategy for reliability, but 75hp? You must be joking.. Who thought of that?
@@novideohereatall someone who only have 1 week to bulid a never built before machine?
They don't want the people to find out the truth.
We're all here because your videos are top-notch! 👌 Your passion for tech is contagious, and your videos are like fuel for our curiosity. Looking forward to satisfying my tech cravings with your upcoming uploads. 🚀📱
great work, thanks
This vehicle would be cool to find. Also would be neat to be included in a Clive Cussler book
Atlantis Found!
In fact it is in a Clive cussler novel . A story about re emergence of the Nazi race in Argentina and hidden infrastructure in Antarctica , a huge ship . I think this vehicle gets borrowed from a collectors stable for an important mission in Antarctica . Enough of cusser novels .
RIP Clive cussler
I you liked Clives books check out Christopher Cartwright's Sam Reilly series. 20+ books and they are basically a Dirk Pitt knockoff. But still pretty good.
I'll make sure to check them out
I am kinda surprised by the cruiser's design, honestly. If that thing was designed about the 1939's, then I'd at least expect it to look a lot less ''modern''. I mean sure, the german engineers a few years later would have developed the Horten Ho 229 (another quite functional and yet futuristic looking vehicle/aircraft), but damn! When I first saw the pictures of the snow cruiser, I would have taken it for a vehicle from the late 80's, to early 2000's (1980-2010). It honestly would even fit in a ''sci-fi setting''. But they actually started designing it at 1937? Wow..
Look up the Daily Express Building in Manchester, England. Build in 1939. Looks like it was built in *1989* . Large windows in curved corners and a layout which makes it look more 21st century than 1939.
@@McLarenMercedes google Bauhaus, it looks like some average modern house, thing was build in the 20s
90s cars are just air stream designs without the chrome
It's almost like oil companies could afford to pay the finest designers around....
That's why it actually failed : futuristic design, but completely unpractical
Just found this channel and love it
darn love to see it in a museum 🎨😘💕🙈🖼️
"What Happened To The Antarctic Snow Cruiser?" Kimi Raikkonen: "It stuck."
'Kimi drive it in reverse' 'Leave me alone I Know what I'm doing'
Try driving around in the winter in an SUV that has bald tires like those on the Snow Cruiser, and tell me how well you got through the winter storms you encounter.
If you made it out the block u mean
@@GAndreC I doubt you would even make it out of your parking spot.
I have a neighbor who lives on a hill, he neglects his tire so every year when winter comes. Here he comes sliding down the hill, and crashes into the curb at around 20KM/h
theres something that just seems so appealing of spending a while in something that. Trudging along the south pole with a few crewmates in a heated, top of the line, gigantic snow vehicle, sitting in that cockpit looking out at the empty world.
I wish I had seen this video a few weeks ago. I just finished reading Clive Cusslers Atlantis Found where this vehicle has a big part in the story. It was hard to imagine this from the authors description but now it all makes sense.
Imagine a survival/exploration game based around this. That would be sick af
That's exactly what I was thinking!
So... You and some friend(s) will have to go to unknown snowy places in a giant vehicle? Seems good to me
I hope some dev is reading this :)
@@mirzaaljic me too, maybe i can just supply some ideas for the mechanics idk
@@Techy404 almost like a dread hunger kinda thing would be cool
Ah yes, the era of international dreams of an Antarctic colony to feed the world's insatiable desire for penguins. We had ambition in those days.
Penguin big Mac's anyone 🐧🐧
When a democrat gets ideas, this is what happens...
@@painkillerjones6232 everything has to be ruined with political bias huh. we get it, you need to point fingers to feel good lmao.
@@cf8979 It is a good comparison to today's administration's "infrastructure" plan.
@@painkillerjones6232 The expedition seems to have gone well enough outside of the failure of the Snow Cruiser, and I don't think you can blame the Democrats for the engineers deciding that two 150 hp diesels (that is a lower hp/ton ratio than a Tiger II tank) and slick tires for a 34 ton vehicle was a good idea.
Amazing video, thank you mate
Outstanding
Engineers: we'll be driving on ice and snow, so..... slick tyres? Everyone with eyes: wtf?!
"Slick tyres it is!"
In the beginning of the video, I was wondering how rubber tyres would work at -80C. (Un)fortunately, we never got to find out.
When I saw the thumbnail I was thinking: WTF! Tyres for Antarctica? Just four tyres? Slick tyres? Extremely narrow tyres? I mean in the 1930´s already engineers knew how to improve traction and reduce ground weight for muddy and snowy conditions. Like tracked tractors or tanks. And for a wheeled vehicle increasing the number of wheels and putting wide tires with snow chains on was no secret at that time.
@@philp8872 The tires on the 'Wiilys' jeep were thin and tall. But what would of really helped was White stripes on the outside of them.
@@easydoz1 Haha, yes! But the tyres were appropiate for that Willys Jeep´s weight. And they weren´t slick. I have an old Land Rover with 7.50x16 tires. They are very slim in comparison with up to date offroad tires. But they weren´t supposed to work in Antarctica! And they aren´t slick!
Imagine you're exploring the deep seas of the Antarctic and you find this at the bottom of the ocean
After humanity has gone it might be what the next beings find. Bet they will be wondering why it has slick tyres too.
lol i would say hey look its a rusty useless usafaliure
@@Cinnamorollthecut3st If that is what is remembered as a failure of the U.S.A. I wouldn't feel to bad. At least it wouldn't be the failures of some countries like those that caused the deaths of millions of their own citizens after adopting communism or the genocide of Uyghurs.
Where it belongs... Like seriously, what where they thinking with those tires??
@@Cinnamorollthecut3st how much did they raise your social credit for saying that? 10 points? 20 points?
Smooth tires... good one. Well done murica, well done xD
Amazing 3D and story.
I think this is the best channel on youtube. Huge fan.
I think to
Dharr man
Idk man, Lemmino is also really good
@@vladimirmakarov7475 no Dhar mann
Gl9vvvv6v Yvv6
It's amazing how this thing looks like it was made in the 80s it really feels odd knowing that it was used in the 30s
You should have a look at the 1950 GM futurliner... looks like it was pulled straight from Fallout.
This just instantly reminds me of Frost Punk 😂 “when the snow first fell” 😂
Thanks I got New KZhead Channel from this Video to Learn more Knowledge
This is yet another example of why the testing phase should NEVER be neglected, even if it means delaying an entire project. Many amazing concepts could've worked if they had time for complete tests on their capabilities and limitations, so that flaws could be dealt with. It's funny because it's the same issue I had with my graduation project back in college. It was amazing in theory, but there were not enough tests to find and fix the problems.
It’s also an example of why you need competent engineers. I can’t imagine anyone seriously thinking that skinny smooth tires and low ground clearance would be a good idea for frozen rough surfaces.
Mustard is everything this transportation vehicle geek needs. Can't tell you how grateful I am for this top shelf content.
Yesh mi bruddah
I wonder if he loves eating mustard.......
@@handlemonium cannabilism
Seen the historical marker in ohio on Lincoln hwy where it was stuck for days in the mud. Glad I seen it or I would have never known about the snow cruiser.
Looks like something out've an updated Mountains of Madness movie, nice!
I want to find this thing, I love Antarctica and the history of abandoned man made structures that rest there. Imagine being the first one to set foot in there since either the 40’s or late 50’s
It's all lies
@@calfowler6838 Mood Killer
@@calfowler6838 I think he means ww2 and up but then again very few of them were like that
I feel ashamed of never hearing of this before. Something so sensational and wide known 80 years ago is almost completely forgotten today. How short the human attention span is, how quickly the time swallows our lives.
I also didn't know about it...
I had a jigsaw puzzle of the Antartic Snow Cruiser as a child in England in the late 1940s/early 50s. I recall that even at a young age it seemed to me that smooth tyres were not a good idea on snow. I also recall that the box that the jigsaw came in mentioned Admiral Byrd, the famed artic/antartic explorer. Great video that provided much infomation about this vehicle.
American culture buries failures.
I came across it somehow like 2 years ago
Intelligent comment. I just clicked on it and thought it was something recent until I read your comment. That explains the smooth tires I guess. I'll finish the video now.
That reminds me of a piece from a song: "...beware the command, it comes down on high from the desk of a man, who never held steel or torch in his hand..."
Amazing thanks
I thought living out of a Bradley for a month was rough. I couldn’t imagine a year in that little thing
It's about the size of 2 semi truck high and long.
Had to rewatch the pentagon wars clip of the evolution of the Bradley, never ceases to crack me up. Can't imagine being in it for so long, hopefully the arctic cruiser was much nicer.
Little thing? When did you get dropped on your head?
@@jordy2299 its a large gigantic metal tin can with plates and a cannon attached, it doesnt exactly seem like a luxury yacht with the finest wines available at the drop in the middle of a god damn desert with no air con.
@@themagicslinky1773 Don't forget that Pentagon Wars is propaganda for the "Reformers", a group who quite literally tried making planes that are essentially two wings and a gun with no radar or radio equipment, and want incredibly outdated equipment to be the norm rather than improving designs.
Another time we got really close to getting the land ships from "Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak", but ultimately fell short.
Awesome video 👍
Wow this was built in my home city and I've never heard of it until now 😳
I swear that every time some project flops, wether it's a new machine, a movie, a videogame or anything, it's always because it was rushed.
not always. e.g. the Boeing hypersonic plane was not rushed, but shelved due to unsurmountable technical problems
Mustard: Quality over Quantity with the best visuals ever!
But who is he?
just discovered this channel wtf this is awesome
I just wanna say, Volkswagen KÄFER goes VROOOOM. Does who know what I mean, you’re truly people of culture.
It's incredible that a bunch of brilliant engineers who could design that thing would put slick tires on it. If I was on the team I would insist on tracks I think.
The most successful large snow vehicles are screw driven and most are amphibious.
Easy for you to say in 2021
@john milton John, no need to get worked up.
@@kubabohdan7020 Most people could have guessed how well smooth rubber would grip ice even back in the late 30's.
Tracks were still in their infancy back than. Decades later Russia built the Kharkovchankas, check those out. Much better design but not without issues and now tracked vehicles, basically ski hill groomers, are top dog there. Light machine with huge wide light tracks for the win. Engineers usually have a concept but the field operators are the ones who come up with the brilliant improvements out of necessity.
The most unbelievable thing is that this was envisioned in the 30s while it looks like something from the 80s.
50 years is not a long time at all
@@DrWhom tell that to your cyborg grandchildren in 2071
@@DrWhom 50 years in something like philosophy might not be much, but 50 years in engineering is quite a lot.
@@DrWhom True...
design were a way from at those time, brilliant
Fun fact, by the 1960s there still wasn’t a vehicle capable of tackling the tough terrain of Antartica. Then there was an Australian expedition that had the perfect vehicle. A Volkswagen Beetle!!! It was called Antartica One and it proved to be tough, rugged and could tackle the harsh environment. It was a standard beetle fitted with a second 6 volt battery and engine fan cooling blocked off and some accessories like radio, additional lights and etc but otherwise your ordinary run of the mill beetle. After the expedition that car returned back to Australia and driven across the country for tours and publicity. A second beetle was also sent to Antartica called Antartica Two. Shame the cars eventually disappeared after such an amazing expedition having survived brutal conditions.