The Norge [meaning Norway] flight
took place on May 11-14, 1926, and was a joint Norwegian-American-Italian
venture. The co-leaders 626j93g were the great Norwegian explorer Roald
Amundsen, American adventurer Lincoln Ellsworth, and
Italian Umberto Nobile, the airship's designer and
pilot. The Norge departed Kings Bay [Ny Ålesund], Spitsbergen
in the Svalbard Archipelago on May 11, 1926--just
five days after American Richard Byrd's claimed (and highly questionable)
attainment of the North Pole by airplane--and flew by way of the North Pole to
Teller (near Nome), Alaska. The flight, which originated in Rome,
had been touted as "Rome to Nome" but bad weather forced them to land at the
small settlement of Teller just short of Nome.
This was the first undisputed attainment of the North Pole by air and the first
crossing of the polar sea from Europe to North America.
Additionally it gave Amundsen, who led the first
expedition to reach the South Pole (1911), the distinction of being the first
person to travel to both poles of the earth.
After a safe landing in Teller in which the Norge was undamaged, the airship was deflated
and dismantled. Originally plans called for the airship to be sold back to the
Italian government after completion of the flight; however the Norge unfortunately fell prey to souvenir hunters
from Teller and was more or less destroyed.
Following the Norge
flight a bitter dispute--that was played out in the world press--broke out
between Amundsen and Nobile
over who should receive credit for leading the expedition. As a result Nobile returned to Kings
Bay, Spitsbergen in 1928 as sole leader of his own
expedition. However, the Italia flight ended in tragedy. The Italia departed
Kings Bay
on May 22, 1928 and flew over the North Pole but crashed on the ice northeast
of Spitsbergen on its return flight to Kings Bay
the following day. Nine crewmembers, including Nobile,
were thrown out onto the ice and survived the crash. The Italia crash
sparked a massive search and rescue operation, the first in the far north, to
which six countries sent planes and ships. As a further tragedy Roald Amundsen lost his life travelling
by air from Norway to Spitsbergen to take part in the
rescue mission.
On June 23, 1928 a Swedish pilot removed Nobile to the mainland from the ice floe on which Italia
survivors were stranded, but damaged his plane on the return for more survivors
and had to be rescued himself. Ultimately, the Russian icebreaker Krassin reached the by-then badly disintegrating ice
floe and rescued the remaining survivors on July 12, seven weeks after the Italia
crashed.
One additional note: both the Norge and Italia flights flew over the North Pole but did
not land. Well-publicized plans to land and leave a scientific team from the
Italia at the North Pole were vague at best and failed to materialize. However,
some publications incorrectly identify either or both flights, as well as
Byrd's 1926 airplane flight, with having landed at the North Pole. It was not
until 1937 that four 4-engine cargo planes from the Russian SP-1 expedition
flew from Franz Josef Land and landed at the
North Pole.
THE ITALIA'S DISASTER
In 1928, Nobile
returned to Kings
Bay as sole leader of his
own expedition in the airship Italia. On May 21, 1928, the Italia crashed
on the ice north-east of Spitsbergen
on the return from a claimed attainment of the North Pole.
The Italia carried
a crew of 16. At the time of the crash, nine crewmembers--including Nobile--were in the main cabin gondola and were thrown onto
the ice. One additional crewmember was in the rear engine gondola and was also
thrown to the ice, but was found dead. Six crewmembers were inside the envelope
and disappeared when the envelope, relieved of the weight of the gondola,
floated away in free-flight. Their remains were never found. Remark-ably, a
number of supplies, including a radio and a tent, were also thrown to the ice.
The radio eventually allowed survivors to establish contact with the outside
world. Survivors used a red dye to paint red stripes on the tent to make it
more visible from the air and the site became known in the extensive press
coverage as the Red Tent.
The Rescue Operations. The Italia crash sparked the first
massive air-sea rescue operation in the Far North. Ultimately five countries
sent planes, pilots, and ships to the Svalbard
area to aid in the search. But in reality no one was in charge and there was
little, if any, coordination of activities. The Italian ship Città di Milano, in the harbor at Kings Bay,
served as the expedition's base ship and carried a small contingent of Alpini soldiers proficient in mountaineering; otherwise,
there were no advance preparations for the possibility of a disaster. There
were no airplanes in Spitsbergen at the time.
The following is a brief
chronology of rescue operations related to the Italia tragedy:
- May 23, 1928 The
Italia crashes on the ice at 81º14'N, 25º25'W, north of North East Land
in the Svalbard Archipelago. [The ice floe drifted extensively and at various times survivors were
in sight of land].
- May 31 Unable
to establish radio contact, three Italia survivors begin a trek
toward land.
- June 5 A
Norwegian pilot makes the first flight in search of the Italia. In
the ensuing weeks, pilots from Norway,
Sweden, Finland, Russia
and Italy
make search and rescue flights.
- June 6 A Russian radio operator
hears the Italia SOS signals.
- June 8 Radio
contact established between the ice floe and the Città
di Milano. Search
operations continue.
- June 18 Roald Amundsen
disappears on a flight to Spitsbergen
to aid in rescue operations.
- June 20 An
Italian pilot spots the Red Tent location and drops supplies.
- June 23 A
Swedish pilot removes Nobile from the ice floe
but damages his plane on the return for more survivors.
- July 12 The
Russian ice-breaker Krassin rescues
remaining Italia survivors.
Once radio contact was established
with Italia survivors and rescue operations were underway, the focus
shifted to a search for Roald Amundsen
who with five others in a French Latham seaplane had disappeared on a flight
from Tromsø in northern Norway
to Spitsbergen. At
this point France joined
five other countries already in the Svalbard
area in sending ships and planes to take part in the search.
