"…A medical evacuation vehicle, the ANT-IVS, had been type-standardized in 1933. This "ambulance with a propeller" turned out to be irreplaceable both in peacetime and during the Winter War of 1939-40, and as well during the Great Patriotic War, especially in positions in Karelia and the Far North.
In addition to the ANT-IV aerosled, designer N. A. Andreev developed the OSGA-6 aerosled, which also was employed in the Soviet-Finnish War. [OSGA-department for design of speed boats and sleds.] These sleds conducted patrol on isolated sectors of the front, particularly on lakes. They were used to move assault troops, they brought forward ammunition, and directly participated in combat operations. Unfortunately, the author was unable to find any detailed description of the OSGA-6 aerosled.
The Red Army had several aerosled detachments that were employed with relative success in winter operations against the Finns during the Winter War. They were used primarily for maintaining communications between units and formations, and ferrying ammunition, provisions, and petroleum products to forces operating at great distances from their supply bases. These sleds also evacuated the wounded from the battlefield. Sometimes aerosled detachments executed combat missions; launching surprise attacks against the enemy. All this taken together was a first test case. The Soviet leadership had only recently come to recognize the possibilities of the aerosled as a combat asset.
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, all the aerosleds that existed in the country were mobilized into the Red Army. The designers developed new vehicles for operational use: transport-assault aerosleds NKL-16/41 and NKL-16/42, combat aerosled NKL-26 with armor plate and machine-gun mount, the heavy assault aerosled ASD-400, and also the RF-8-GAZ-98 aerosled. The latter merits examination in greater detail.
The RF-8 aerosled was created by Narkomrechflot [People's commissariat of the river flotillas] Desigh Bureau under the supervision of Chief Designer M. V. Veselovskiy in accordance with a tasking from the GKO. A large group of engineers participated in the creation of this combat vehicle: N. F. Meyer, I. K. Chichkhiani, E. I. Melekhanov, A. A. Smolin, V. A. Zverev, N. A. Ronzhin, I. A. Kunyaev, A. I. Smirnov, and many others. The RF-8 was by far not the first project of Veselovskiy. From 1932 to 1941 this talented designer created several types of original aerosleds, such as the GGAT-3, KM-4, and KM-5, to meet the needs of communications and the civilian economy.
Already in early 1941 the aerosled industry was provided blueprints of the RF-8 combat aerosled. The GKO assigned several enterprises to build them, including the Gorkiy Automobile Factory (GAZ).
With the consent of the principal designer, the GAZ engineers introduced a number of changes to the blueprints in order to conform the design of the sled to the technological capabilities of the factory and available construction materials. This work was carried out under the direct supervision of the principal designer of the GAZ, A. A. Lipgart. A. D. Prosvirin, A. M. Kriger, A. V. Kostin, V. I. Borisov, G. I. Krasilnikov, and others took part in the effort on this vehicle.
At the end of December 1941, the first production lot of RF-8 aerosleds, which received the factory designation GAZ-98, had already arrived at many sectors of the front. They were used to form combat aerosled battalions. In most Soviet documents this vehicle named RF-8-GAZ-98.
The most important feature of the RF-8-GAZ-98 aerosled was the fact that it used not an aviation engine, but a significantly cheaper, serially produced automotive engine, the GAZ-M-1, produced by GAZ. In addition, a metal aircraft propeller was used instead of the former wooden propeller. The presence of a metal propeller significantly broadened the employment envelope of the aerosled. Now the snowmobile could move confidently through forests and shrubs, and not shy away from forest roads, where other types of aerosleds with vulnerable wooden propellers could not travel…"
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