Snowmobiles (55 photos)

The continuation of military, civil and scientific developments of snowmobiles produced in the USSR and Germany, during the Second World War and the post-war period. Many of them were never put into mass production, but it is still interesting to look at the unique engineering developments.

The unique snowmobile "Kharkovchanka" was developed in order to conquer the Arctic and Antarctic in the 1950s. The maximum speed is 40 km/h, and it could also climb hills at an angle of 30 degrees. "Kharkovchanka" repeatedly helped Soviet expeditions reach the South Pole, and according to some sources, it still remains in use at polar stations.

Snowmobiles were designed for extreme winter conditions and off-road conditions.

The first airborne divisions appeared in 1941 and successfully fought against the Nazis in the winter of 1942. The RF-8 was particularly successful.

A special feature of this model was a propeller made of steel, which made it possible to break through dense snow-covered forest.

NKL-26 is another model successfully used in the fight against Nazi Germany.

In the 30s, they began to model the ANT-4 snowmobile, which was used to deliver mail over remote distances in Siberia, and even as a support vehicle in Arctic expeditions.

These World War II military snowmobiles were not very fast (average speed was 25 km/h), and had relatively light armor.

The Americans also carried out similar developments, but they were slightly different from the Soviet ones.

Faced with the harsh Russian winter, the Germans also decided to experiment with snowmobiles. Tatra was one of many firms involved in prototype development. Tatra V855 (1942) - aerodynamic vehicle with a T-87 engine. Only 2 snowmobiles were built, it did not reach mass production.

When Germany realized that their experiments were not successful, they began to capture Soviet snowmobiles

By this time, at least a dozen prototypes had been developed in the USSR:

This snowmobile was designed in the late 50s by engineer Kamov. The Pobeda car was used as a basis.








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Rare model "Veterok". Only a few prototypes were built, and unfortunately it never reached mass production.

The KA-30 snowmobile was called “the dream of Soviet youth in the polar regions.” It was a large vehicle, powerful, fast, and available in various versions.