Airship America North Pole Expedition

Airship America seen from the deck of the steamship Trent, October 1910.

The America was a non-rigid airship built by Mutin Godard in France in 1906 for Walter Wellman's attempt to reach the North Pole by air.
Wellman had been inspired to fly to the pole during a failed overland attempt in 1893.

The airship was delivered by ship to Spitsbergen on July 8, 1906 where Wellman and his team attempted to erect it.
Their efforts met with failure when the engines fell apart.

In September, the America was dismantled and returned by ship to France.

Wellman returned to Spitsbergen with the America in June the following year, 1907.
The airship had a new centre-section sewn into it to increase its length to 185 ft (56.4 m) and volume to 272,000 cu ft (7,700 m³).
The weather was very unfavourable, however, and it was 2 September before the America could even leave the hangar.

Wasting no time, Wellman launched later that day with mechanic Melvin Vaniman and navigator Felix Riesenberg in an attempt to reach the pole.
Unfortunately, more bad weather forced this to be abandoned after only a few miles and the America was deflated to avoid a crash landing.
America once again returned to France for repairs.

The airship returned to Spitsbergen one more time in July 1909.
At 10 AM on 15 August, Wellman launched with, Vaniman, Russian balloonist Nicolas Popov and Vaniman's nephew Louis Loud on board.

The flight began well enough, but two hours and 40 miles, 64 km in to the flight, a device Wellman called the "equilibrator" failed.
This was a long, leather tube filled with ballast that was intended to help gauge and maintain a fixed altitude over the ice.

America gained altitude rapidly, until it was brought under control at 5,000 ft, 1,500 m, and gradually lowered back to the ground by venting hydrogen.
The crew was rescued by the Norwegian steamer Fram.

Wellman began plans to extend the hangar so that he could return the following year with a larger airship.
As he learned of Dr Frederick Cook's claim to have reached the pole, abandoned the adventure.


Source: Wikipedia

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