Disaster at the Pole: The Crash of the Airship Italia

In Disaster at the Pole, Wilbur Cross draws on decades of personal research and interviews to narrate the heart-stopping drama of a little-known an airborne expedition to the North Pole in 1926.

General Umberto Nobile, one of the great aeronautical engineers of the 20th century, saw airships as a way of accomplishing great feats of exploration while winning worldwide acclaim for Italy. To this end he designed the Italia, a groundbreaking, cutting edge semi-rigid ship, able to withstand twisting wind shear that proved so deadly to fully-rigid Zeppelin-type dirigibles. Little was understood about the Arctic environment and weather conditions at the time, and any new discoveries at all were certain to earn worldwide acclaim.

Early the show more morning of May 23, the Italia departed Kings Bay, Norway, for the pole, reaching its destination at 12:24 a.m. May 24. The weather proved too rough to lower the planned scientific expedition, so the airship turned back to base. In the face of the worsening storm, the Italia took a tremendous beating in sub-zero weather. The Italia hit the ice pack hard, tearing the gondola from the airbag. Half the crew was suddenly stranded on the ice, the other half carried away back into the storm, never to be seen again. And thus begins an unbelievable take of rescue and survival in the harshest environment on earth.

Cross paints in vivid detail the almost gleeful abandonment of Nobile to his fate by Rome even as the other nations of the world mobilize desperate rescue missions. With limited provisions, Nobile and his surviving crew set up camp with a single tent and limited provisions, hoping against hope that they will be rescued.

The story is made all the more immediate–and intimate–by Nobile’s own words, as Cross sought out the aging aviator and other survivors to chronicle the ordeal in their own words. For such a little-known episode in the history of flight, it packs a wallop. Cross doesn’t disappoint. show less

A great adventure. I am reading this one slowly.

Il libro narra della seconda spedizione al polo nord di Umberto Nobile sul dirigibile Italia; si legge abbastanza agilmente. Molto interessante scoprire in che condizioni incredibili si svolgevano le esplorazioni ottant'anni fa (la radio era stata inventanta de marconi da poco più di 2 anni, il radar non esisteva, la posizione era determinata usando il sestante, in caso di nebbia impossibile capire dove ci si trovava...).