The U.S. army has spent a lot cash creating stuff through the years. It had super-secret spy planes, tried to practice dolphins for underwater warfare and even had the good thought of creating flying plane carriers. Nevertheless, one if its finest concepts may be this ridiculous snow practice that was designed to overcome the Arctic.
The U.S. military had a couple of experimental craft within the works within the Fifties, chief amongst them was a brand new type of street practice that might haul huge hundreds round locations the place roads had been tough, scarce or non-existent. These experimental craft included the longest automobile ever, an overland practice created to restock nuclear silos and this, the LCC-1 Sno-Prepare.
Designed to function in among the most excessive environments round, the LCC-1 was first dropped at our consideration by way of the wonderful YouTuber Calum, who constructed a reputation for himself uncovering some fairly spectacular forgotten machines.
The LCC-1, which suggests Logistics Cargo Provider primary, was developed by the U.S. military in cahoots with Texas-based heavy gear producer LeTourneau, Calum defined in a current add. It comprised an unlimited engine up entrance that housed a heated space for its operators in addition to the 600 horsepower diesel motor that it wanted to tow massive military stuff round.
With that energy unit, the Sno-Prepare might tow three trailer automobiles that might be piled up with a mixed load of round 45 tons of army gear. That’s a fairly spectacular haul, however it’s not practically as spectacular as the big wheels that this factor was operating round on.
With the intention to higher distribute its weight throughout the sorts of frozen surfaces the Sno-Prepare was designed for, it ran on a set of customized Firestone tires that had been large, actually large. In accordance with Overland Trains, the automobile used Firestone 120x48x68 tires, which means they measured greater than 10 toes tall and 4 toes huge. These huge wheels had been excellent for the frozen wastes of Greenland, the place the LCC-1 was deployed by the U.S. army from 1956.
The LCC-1 is the third overlanding practice that Calum has explored on his channel, however he calls this one essentially the most profitable of the interval, because it actually did show its price in service through the years.
It was ceaselessly used to hold hundreds to Camp Century, an Arctic analysis base operated by the U.S. till 1967. The Sno-Prepare additionally served in Alaska, the place it was used to resupply the Early Warning Line community of radar detectors throughout Canada and the U.S.
The huge machine was even stated to have saved somebody’s life throughout a storm, providing a baby with appendicitis the one path to hospital because of its rugged capabilities. That go-anywhere angle additionally meant the Sno-train was known as on to rescue one other large overlanding practice that had gotten caught within the Arctic within the early ’60s. What a machine.
Nevertheless, all that off-road expertise wasn’t sufficient to maintain the Sno-Prepare in service, and it was taken out of service in 1962. Now, the remnants of the Sno-Prepare could be discovered on the Yukon Transportation Museum in Whitehorse, Yukon, the place it survives alongside a number of of its trailers nonetheless full with the unique 10-foot tires. It’s fairly the positioning.
