The Final Frontier: Snow Speed: Russian and Soviet Aerosleds

So, as you might expect, the Russians have thought of just about everything involving snow. Well, one of the most unique snow vehicles was actually invented by Igor Sikorsky (who later built the first practical helicopter in the United States, the VS-300). These vehicles are called aerosleds. Sikorsky built his first one in Kiev in 1909 and 1910 (when he was only 20 I might add), and later a better version in 1912. Surprisingly, he didn't build them with using them as vehicles in mind; they were test beds for his later aircraft. However, the idea stuck. In 1919, the Soviets started building the ANT series snow sleds, a prototype of which you can see. They were designed by Andrei Tupolev, who would later be famous for designing the Tu-2 bomber in a Soviet Gulag. Then in 1924 they made the ANT-IV, which delivered mail between the cities of Cheboksary and Kanash in Chuvashia (a province of Russia). By horse, the journey took 10 to 12 hours. With the ANT-IV, it took 3 hours. In the 1930s and beyond the Soviet military took over development, making several armed versions. The most prominent of these was the NKL-26. It was crewed by two and armed with a machine gun. They saw some successful action against the Finns in 1939 and also the Germans in the winter of 1941-42. The NKL-26 was powered by a 5-cylender air-cooled radial engine. Around the same time the NKL-26 was made, another smaller, unarmored aerosled called the RF-8 was developed. It used a car engine to save money and supplies. They were mostly used to carry supplies, evacuate wounded and raid the enemy. There was also an assault sled developed, called the ASD-400, however not much information can be found on it. Likewise with the aerosled tank. Feel free to google around for some.

Sikorsky's 1912 aerosled aircraft engine test bed. Notice the framing sticking out in front of the propeller; that was to prevent breaking the propeller if it tipped over. You can see that feature on all the rest of the aerosleds as well.