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Military use of Snowcats - any information on this topic?

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I've been working on Wikipedia the Free On-Line Encyclopedia to develop the various brands of snowcat pages.

One area that I've had pretty good luck documenting is the military use of Snow Trac vehicles by the Royal Marines. They were used as weapons platforms, troop transport, medical evacuation and for patrols. What I don't know is if the US Army, or any other nation's military used Snow Tracs.

I know that Thiokol sold some units to the USAF but I don't know what they were used for by the Air Force. I also don't know if they were used by other branches of service.

Tucker makes some military units, but I don't know what branch of service uses them and what they are used for.

If anyone has an specific information about any brand of snowcat that was used by any nation for military service I would really like to see the information so I can update the Wikipedia snowcat pages, and so we can add more information here to our Forums. But I really like to see books or articles about these vehicles so I can provide write some detailed updates to the Wikipedia articles. Does anyone have any information that can help?
 

Snowcat Operations

Active member
SUPER Site Supporter
The U.S. Airforce had a Snow Trac that they used to carry certain items into a bunker at a missle base. I will call and see if I can find out where and when. Its the only snow trac that I know of that was used by the U.S..
 

Bobcat

Je Suis Charlie Hebdo
GOLD Site Supporter
While I was in the USAF and stationed at Eielson AFB in Fairbanks AK, we had a Thiokol Spryte and an Imp. We used them to access remote sites around the state. I will see if I have any pictures of them, but it may take a while.
 

Lyndon

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
The area around Eielson and Ft. Richardson, which are roughly adjacent to each other, outside of Fairbanks and North Pole, is where the millitary tested many of their arctic toys. This is where I located the first ever Thiokol, serial number one, and some prototype ST4's. The area is littered with an item that it is amazing that no one has asked about, and that is the Army's giant Snow TRAIN, a megolith of a monster. The Cars were larger than rail cars, Manufactured by LeTerneau, several were built and their remains are in yards all over Alaska. The Military snow train probably deserves it's own THREAD. According to the folks at Aktiv/Westeraskmaskiner the very first machines purchased were shipped to Fairbanks for testing.
 

Bobcat

Je Suis Charlie Hebdo
GOLD Site Supporter
That would be Ft Wainwright, and Ft Greely just a little south. Ft Richardson is in Anchorage, which is like being in the 'lower 48' compared to the interior.
 

Lyndon

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Sorry about that I should have gotten that right because I lived and worked on the Richardson Highway, North Pole & Fairbanks.
 

Ice Queen

Bronze Member
SUPER Site Supporter
The area around Eielson and Ft. Richardson, which are roughly adjacent to each other, outside of Fairbanks and North Pole, is where the millitary tested many of their arctic toys. This is where I located the first ever Thiokol, serial number one, and some prototype ST4's. The area is littered with an item that it is amazing that no one has asked about, and that is the Army's giant Snow TRAIN, a megolith of a monster. The Cars were larger than rail cars, Manufactured by LeTerneau, several were built and their remains are in yards all over Alaska. The Military snow train probably deserves it's own THREAD. According to the folks at Aktiv/Westeraskmaskiner the very first machines purchased were shipped to Fairbanks for testing.


Did you get the number plate details aswell as the serial number from the prototype ST4's im reserching the early Royal Marine ST4's.
 

GYPSY

Member
My '59 Tucker Kitten is painted blue and I was told it did some service in the Air Force, perhaps in New Mexico. It does have orange paint under the blue.
 

Lyndon

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
The following "Story" was related to me by an Electrical Engineer that I worked with on the "Slope"(Prudhoe Bay Oil Fields, Alaska)>
When one of the missle bases he was working on was being 'De-Milled', the slang term for being Shut Down, they had 3 brand new Snow Trac's. They had never been run and were stored on a shelf, some 10 feet off the ground in some big building. It would appear that once they were set up on this shelf no one figgured how to get them back down so they stay there until that missle base was decommissioned. They were one of the last pieces of equipment to be hauled away from the site. They loaded all 3 on a tractor trailer, but when the tractor trailer showed up in Anchorage there were only 2 Snow Trac's on it. No one was ever able to locate the 3rd machine. The rumor was that it convieniently fell off the tractor trailer right in front of the truck drivers buddy's Hunting Cabin. >
The Electrical Engineer made a series of calls around on my behalf to try and locate the 2 remaining machines, but the trail was cold and it seemed that these 2 machines had also disappeared off the face of the earth!>
Somewhat later a GI, stationed at that facility verified the story that they had never been used while he was there.
 

The Chief

Banned
Hi,

I've just bought an ex Royal Marines AKTIV SKIDOO and am trying to find out all I can about these machines I need a user/parts manual but as this is the Uk this is impossible The Marines and Navy cannot help as everything has been disposed of now so it is the good ole Super highway and live in hope, can you help at all.

The Chief
 
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