Why the Pentagon cared about Stan Meyer's water car: wars run on fuel
"I was escorted into the Pentagon because wars had been won or lost by the supply of fuel, and of course Patton proved that in World War II." Stan Meyer, New Zealand, 1989. In late summer 1944 Patton's Third Army raced across France and then stalled, not for lack of men but for lack of gasoline. The
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"I was escorted into the Pentagon because wars had been won or lost by the supply of fuel, and of course Patton proved that in World War II." Stan Meyer, New Zealand, 1989. In late summer 1944 Patton's Third Army raced across France and then stalled, not for lack of men but for lack of gasoline. The fix was the Red Ball Express, truck convoys running day and night from 25 August to 16 November 1944, which moved about 412,000 tons of fuel, ammunition and supplies to the front. Fuel still costs lives: the Army Environmental Policy Institute's 2009 study counted roughly one casualty for every 24 fuel resupply convoys in Afghanistan. Stan said he told a general at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base the same thing: without fuel, the most sophisticated aircraft on the runway "becomes a piece of junk." His pitch was fuel made from water wherever you stand. If that worked, how many convoys would still have to roll?
About the voices. The narrator is NeuralStan, an AI voice the archive uses for its made films. Where you hear Stan Meyer, it is Stan: every word of his is cut from an original recording, and nothing he says was synthesised.
Sources
- Stan Meyer · house meeting, New Zealand · 1989
- Stan Meyer · house meeting, New Zealand · 1989
- Bradley, Weyland and Patton, with Willie · U.S. Army Signal Corps · public domain
- Red Ball Express convoy, France, 5 Sept 1944 · U.S. Army Signal Corps · public domain
- Red Ball Express jerrican depot, 1944 · U.S. Army · public domain
- Fuel trucks under Marine escort, Helmand, Afghanistan, 2011 · USMC, Cpl. Michael Augusto · public domain
- Stan Meyer, house meeting, New Zealand, 1989, at 5:48 (part 1) and 4:13 (part 2) — stanslegacy.com
- National WWII Museum, "Keep 'em Rolling": 82 Days on the Red Ball Express; Red Ball Express, 25 Aug – 16 Nov 1944, c. 412,000 tons
- Army Environmental Policy Institute, Sustain the Mission Project: Casualty Factors for Fuel and Water Resupply Convoys (Sept 2009)
- Photos: U.S. Army Signal Corps (public domain); U.S. Marine Corps, Cpl. Michael Augusto, 2011 (public domain)
shorts stanmeyer military ww2 patton history waterfuelcell