Worlds Coldest Tire Change

The Antarctic Snow Cruiser was an impressive feat of design and engineering, built to be used by Admiral Richard E. Byrd to explore and claim an area of Antarctica for the United States. Work commenced in Chicago on the project in 1937, and in 1939 the vehicle began its journey to Boston where it would be loaded on the ship North Star for its trip to Antarctica. The impressive vehicle was 55 feet in length and weighed more than 37 tons. Its four smooth balloon tires were 10 feet tall, and two spare tires were stored in the back of the cruiser. Tire changes, if necessary, could be accomplished using the onboard stores crane. The design of these tires was just one of the design flaws on a vehicle intended to explore the harsh, rugged Antarctic terrain.

The Snow Cruiser encountered a few misadventures on the route from Chicago to Boston including clipping a bridge and getting mired in a creek for 3 days. This should have raised concerns that the smooth balloon tires were likely a poor choice, after all if they were unsuitable to drive the cruiser out of the creek then it seemed unlikely it they would be suitable in snow and ice in a rougher terrain. The cruiser was also seriously underpowered considering its size and weight.

January 15, 1940 the Cruiser arrived at its destination of Bay of Whales, Antarctica, and was offloaded by driving it down a wooden ramp. The sheer size and weight of the vehicle made unloading difficult and it broke through the ramp and only quick thinking by its driver who gave it a burst of gas saved it from crashing into the water.

The error in using smooth balloon tires became apparent once the heavy vehicle started travelling on the snow and ice. They had no traction and the tires would spin in the snow impeding the vehicle’s forward progress. Over time various tactics were employed to try and resolve this issue. Chains were added to the tires, and they even installed the spares and doubled up the front tires. Forward progress was still painfully slow, and it was discovered that more speed could be attained driving in reverse. Driving backwards was not practical as a long term solution, and the cruiser was finally parked permanently and became a stationary work base.

The submitted drawing of the Antarctic Snow Cruiser shows a tire change in progress in the blizzard-like conditions so common in Antarctica. Flares have been lit to provide additional light at ground level for the workers to see while working on changing the huge tire.