May 27, 2020 06:00:00

What is the 80-meter monster machine that the US Army mobilized to build a base in the Arctic Circle?

by

tournadude

In the United States during the Cold War, when tensions with Russia had reached the limit, it was urgently necessary to build a radar station in the Arctic Circle in order to quickly find a bomber flying with a nuclear bomb from Russia. It was However, it is impossible for ordinary trucks to transport the huge amount of materials for constructing a base to the Arctic Circle, which is covered by snow. The Drive, a news site specializing in automotive technology, has summarized the giant trucks that were active in the Arctic during the Cold War.

The Incredible Story of the US Army's Earth-Shaking, Off-Road Land Trains-The Drive
https://www.thedrive.com/news/33645/the-incredible-story-of-the-us-armys-earth-shaking-off-road-land-trains

In 1954, when the Cold War continued to intensify, the United States planned to build a long-distance early warning line consisting of 63 radar stations in the Arctic. However, in the Arctic there were no runways for airplanes to take off and land, no ports for ships, and no helicopter for heavy loads at that time, so all the materials needed to build a base had to be transported by land. did.

However,

Western Electric, which was entrusted with the construction of the radar base, was an electrical equipment manufacturer under the telecommunications company AT & T , so it was not possible to prepare a huge truck that could travel in the Arctic at 56 degrees below zero.

Therefore, Western Electric, with the help of the US Army Transport Research and Development Command (TRADCOM), has selected a company capable of developing giant trucks. Then, the arrow of Shirahane stood up, Le Tourneau , a heavy construction equipment manufacturer.

At the time, Le Tourneau, who had already developed the VC-12, a 16-wheel drive large-sized transportation vehicle for timber transportation, signed a contract with the government under the auspices of TRADCOM and embarked on the development of the TC-264 Sno-Buggy. It was. The TC-264 Sno-Buggy born in this way is a huge truck equipped with the same Allison V-1710 V12 engine as the P-38 Lightning fighter of Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin).

by LETOURNEAU EARTHMOVERS BY ERIC C. ORLEMANN

The TC-264 Sno-Buggy has eight large low-pressure tires, each with a diameter of 10 feet (about 3 meters), and a very large contact area makes it effective on soft snow and hard ice. Since it was able to distribute the weight to, it also performed well in the tests conducted in Greenland in 1954.

So Le Tourneau developed the more powerful

VC-22 Sno-Freighter . The VC-22 Sno-Freighter consists of a 'locomotive' equipped with two 400hp horsepower Cummins diesel engines and a 274-foot (Land Train) with five trailers linked together. And boasted a total payload capacity of 150 tons.

by tournadude

The VC-22 Sno-Freighter, which is capable of traversing all terrain with a large amount of material, was put into the construction of a long-distance early warning line, and made a great contribution to the US national defense. You can see the VC-22 Sno-Freighter lying abandoned due to engine trouble by looking at the side of the Steese Highway in Alaska in Street View on Google Maps.