The polar flight of the Norge in 1926 was supported financially by Lincoln Ellsworth, who had been not only a financial backer of the ill-fated

Transcription

1 The polar flight of the Norge in 1926 was supported financially by Lincoln Ellsworth, who had been not only a financial backer of the ill-fated Dornier flying boats attempt to fly to the North Pole, but instrumental in making it possible for all six participating aeronauts to survive in 1925, 23

2 By the end of 1925, Lincoln Ellsworth was HOOKED on polar adventuring. Although his wealthy father had died just before Lincoln s safe return with Amundsen in 1925 was reported, he was able to ride his laurels and good reputation to inclusion in the frolic planned for the next year out of King s Bay. 24

3 Ellsworth s financial support for the Norge Expedition secured the services of the airship s codesigner as pilot, one Colonel Umberto Nobile, of the Italian Air Force under Mussolini. As commander of the Expedition, Roald Amundsen had no particular assignment during the 71- hour flight itself between King s Bay, and where they were forced to land in Alaska, at the remote village of Teller. Amundsen was more like a Navy Admiral, whereas Nobile was the captain of the flagship. The city of Nome was intensely disappointed and felt snubbed by the Norge s failure to complete the Rome to Nome flight via the North Pole. The Norwegians promptly repaired the radio station at Teller, so the news of Norge s arrival in North America originated from Teller. When Amundsen and Ellsworth travelled from Teller to Nome, few people in the gold rush town greeted them, and there were no parades. Nobile, meanwhile sent messages to Italy exalting the Italian essence of triumphing over the North Pole. Later, when Nobile arrived from Teller, he brought medals from the Vatican for the Catholic Church in Nome, and earned a splash headline in the Nome Nugget for his sensitivity. Things grew worse. Amundsen referred to Nobile as my hired pilot. Nobile reciprocated, calling Amundsen my passenger. Worst of all, Nobile had strictly limited the weight of personal items and clothing that anybody, including Amundsen and could bring aboard the dirigible. Nobile himself, characteristically packed several snappy, tailored, dress uniforms, and of course, his dog Titina was treated royally. The rift between Nobile and Amundsen widened. 25

4 In 1927, Eielson and Wilkins flew north from Barrow in March, some 1200 km into pack ice, looking for undiscovered land. On returning, they experienced a combination of engine failure and fuel exhaustion in their Stinson, but Eilson manageed a blind landing on sea ice that saved their lives. The two struggled for a week to walk to safety at the village of Beechey Point, and were promptly transported back to Barrow by airplane. The next spring (1928) this pair accomplished in a Lockheed Vega what many pilots consider the most impressive aeronautical achievement up to that time a flight from Barrow to Spitsbergen. 26

5 Within a month of the Wilkins-Eielson achievement (for which Wilkins was knighted by King George V and Eielson was awarded a rare peacetime Distinguished Flying Cross), Nobile was on his way back to King s Bay with a sister airship to the Norge, but this one had been christened Italia. Umberto Nobile, now a general in the Italian Air Force, had a lot to prove. He wanted to show off Italian prowess for polar pioneering, so the only non-italians aboard this expedition were the Swedish meteorologist, Dr. Finn Malmgren, and a Czech scientist, Behounik. Although General Nobile had the support of Mussolini himself, two sorts of rivalry were at work eroding the aeronaut s credibility at home in Italy. One was the intra-air Force rivalry between advocates of fixed-wing aviation (like Air Commodore Italo Balbo) and those favoring military uses of dirigibles. The other was inter-service rivalry between the Italian Navy and the other branches of military service in Fascist Italy. The Citta de Mlano s Captain Romagna, became a mutinous partner in Nobile s ill-fated expedition of

6 On this trip, Nobile did not have to conceal his appetite for splendid tailored uniforms, as the Italia prepared to leave Kings Bay on 23rd May

7 For calibration, here is a scene from the 1928 campaign for the U.S. Presidency: Herbert Hoover, observation car at the end of the train. 29

8 Italia rose majestically, and headed for the Pole, with little adversity, until the ship arrived at the North Pole, where a cross and flags were symbolically dropped to the pack ice at 90 N. But attempts to land at the Pole had to be abandoned as winds rose to 50 kmh (30 knots) in a gathering storm. Italia s crew reluctantly set course back to Kings Bay. 30

9 On the morning of the 25 th of May, Italia was nearing the easternmost island of the Spitsbergen Archipelago, buffeted by turbulence and sidewinds. It was losing buoyancy because of icing at low altitude, during her courageous struggle to return to Kings Bay. The command gondola collided with jagged ice just moments after Nobile ordered the crew to cut ignition to the airship s 3 engines, to prevent explosion of the hydrogen-filled gasbag. The gondola split open, spilling men onto the ice, mostly alive, but in severe shock and with a number of injuries. 31

10 Nobile himself was severely disabled with a broken leg. Yet he maintained a calm and orderly command over the survivors of the crash. They, under leadership of Gen. Nobile had a number of problems to solve: food, communications with a broken radio transmitter/receiver, deteriorating ice as summer advanced, inclination of some of the survivors to walk over the sea ice toward Svalbard to hasten rescue in the absence of radio contact. At last, the radio transmitter was fixed, and with waning batteries, the Italia survivors made their survivorship and approximate position known, through the USSR, to the rest of the world. 32

11 The already venerable Soviet icebreaker Krassin was dispatched from Leningrad to go north to rescue the Italia survivors. Under the command of Samoilovich, and with a twin-engined monoplane aboard, Krassin forged into the ice. 33