Italia around the North Pole

April 1928 Italia at Stolp

Airship Italia was a semi-rigid airship used by Italian engineer Umberto Nobile in his second series of flights around the North Pole. In May 1928 the Italia set off for the Arctic Circle, stopping at a German airship hangar at Stolp, Pomerania, and the airship mast at Vadsø in Norway.

At 01:15 on 15 April 1928, the Italia took off from its base at Milan for the Arctic. The journey to Stolp in Germany took 30 hours through a variety of bad weather conditions. On arrival at Stolp at 07:15 on 16 April 1928, inspection revealed hail damage to the propellers and envelope, and severe tail fin damage. The repair work took 10 days.

Takeoff from Stolp was further delayed by bad weather, but at 03:28 on 3 May 1928, Italia set off for Norway. Eight hours later, escorted by Swedish naval planes, Italia passed over Stockholm.
Crewmember Finn Malmgren spotted his house from the air and the ship descended to drop a letter to his mother. Bad weather forced the ship east over Finland, and they passed over Rovaniemi at 01:49 on 4 May.
Italia reached the mooring mast at Vadsø later that day.

As soon as weather permitted, Italia took off for Kings Bay at 20:34 on 5 May, and by 05:30 had passed the meteorological station on Bear Island. The airship ran into high winds shortly after, also suffering an engine failure. By 12:00 on 6 May the airship reached Ny-Ålesund (Kings Bay) and spotted their support ship.

Nobile planned 5 flights for the expedition, each starting from and returning to Ny-Ålesund (Kings Bay) and exploring different areas of the Arctic.

The first flight

The first flight took off from Kings Bay on 11 May 1928, however Italia was forced to turn back after only eight hours flight because of ice forming on the envelope.


The second flight

The second flight left at 13:20 on 15 May and lasted 60 hours. In contrast, this time weather condition were excellent and visibility perfect.  Valuable meteorological, magnetic and geographic data were gathered in a 2,500 mile (4,000 km) flight to the hitherto uncharted Nicholas II Land and back.  Dr Malmgren gathered weather and ice observations, while Drs Pontremoli and Behounek made measurements of magnetic phenomena and radioactivity. The ship returned safely to base on the morning of 18 May.

The third flight

The third flight started on 23 May 1928, and following a route along the Greenland coast. With the assistance of strong tailwinds, reached the North Pole 19 hours later at 00:24 on 24 May 1928. Nobile had prepared a winch, an inflatable raft, and survival packs with the intention of lowering some of the scientists onto the ice. The wind made this impossible.

They circled the pole making observations and at 01:20 dropped the Italian and Milanese colours.
At 02:20 on 24 May, the Italia started back to base.

Heading directly south on a heading for Kings Bay, after 24 hours of increasing head winds and thick mist the Italia was only half way back to base.

Ice formed on the propellers and shot off into the envelope, necessitating running repairs. Engine speed was increased but with little effect, except for a doubling of fuel consumption.

Dr Behounek, in charge of the compass, started reporting variations in course of up to 30 degrees, and the elevator man Cecioni had similar problems maintaining control.

By 07:30 on 25 May, Nobile, who had been awake for over 48 hours, knew that the situation was critical and Giuseppe Biagi, the wireless operator, sent out the message: "If I don't answer, I have good reason".
By dead reckoning, Nobile estimated his position as 250 miles (400 km) northeast from Moffin Island.
This estimate was in fact 350 miles (560 km) off.

At 9:25am on 25 May the first critical incident occurred, when the elevator control jammed in the downward position. The airship was travelling at less than 1000 feet (300 metres) altitude. All engines were stopped and the airship began to rise again after it had dropped to within 300 feet (90 metres) of the jagged ice pack.

The airship then climed to 3000 feet (900 metres), above the cloud layer into bright sunlight for 30 minutes. After two engines were re-started the airship descended to 1000 feet (300 metres).

At 10:25 the ship was noticed to be tail-heavy and falling at a rate of 2 feet per second (0.6 m/s). Seconds afterwards the airship's control cabin hit the jagged ice and smashed open. Suddenly relieved of the weight of the gondola, the envelope of the ship, with a gaping tear in the keel and part of one cabin wall still attached began to rise again.

Nine survivors and one fatality were left on the ice, and six more crew were trapped in the still drifting airship envelope. The envelope and the crew members aboard it have never been found.

First Flight: 1924
Length: 105.4 metres / 347.8 feet
Diameter: 19.4 metres / 63.9 feet
Gas capacity: 18,500 cubic metres / 654,000 cubic feet
Performance: 112.3 km/h / 70.2 mph
Payload: 9405 kg / 20,900 LB
Power plant: 3 x Maybach 560 kW / 750 hp total

Sourse: Wikipedia