Awesooome

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. Thanks for watching!

In the late 1940’s and early 1950’s the Soviet Union was in critical need of newer, more modern civil airliners. Existing aircraft like the Lisunov Li-2 (a license-build derivative of the Douglas DC-3) and Ilyushin Il-12 were small, slow, and outdated when compared to their western counterparts. Travelling across the vast expanses of the Soviet Union was measured in days due multiple refueling stops, and often unpredictable weather. By 1953 plans were underway to solve the Soviet Union's airliner shortfall, but one pioneering aircraft designer named Andrei Tupolev was committed to propelling Soviet civil aviation well into the future. By 1953, the British de Havilland Comet was beginning to prove itself in passenger service. It flew nearly twice as fast as the latest generation of piston powered airliners, and much higher. With its speed and ability to fly above most weather, the Comet was proving to be much more convenient and comfortable. Tupolev was convinced that jet power was exactly what the Soviet Union needed, but Soviet leadership was skeptical. Jet engines were relatively new and unproven. There were lingering questions about long-term reliability, fuel consumption, and whether the resources needed to retrain Soviet pilots could be justified. More modern piston airliners seemed to be a more sensible path forward. Realizing that Soviet leadership would be unwilling to commit significant time and resources required to develop a jet airliner like the de Havilland Comet, Tupolev proposed an alternative approach. Having just finished designing the jet-powered Tu-16 heavy bomber, Tupolev proposed converting the aircraft into an airliner. Doing so would save significant engineering time, allowing for the airliner to be introduced within just 3 years. It would also be far less expensive, as factories were already configured to manufacture Tu-16 components that could be reused on the airliner, like engines, wings, landing gear and avionics. The approach would allow the new jetliner to enter service in 1956 - years ahead of the Americans. It was an irresistible proposition, but like the British, the Soviets would pay a heavy price for being the first to introduce jet travel. Thanks for watching!