Disaster at the Pole: The Tragedy of the Airship Italia and the 1921 Nobile Expedition to the North Pole

The Airship Italia disaster of 1928 has unfortunately been nearly forgotten today, but in its time captivated the world. I've read a number of books on the incident and this one ranks with the best (I even have an aviation text from that same year that was published after the accident, but before the rescue. The readers were left hanging!). While attempting to fly to the North Pole under the command of Italian Gen Umberto Nobile, land on the ice, and return, the airship Italia crashes on the pack ice hundreds of miles from civilization. The survivors are hurled to the ice and can only watch as 6 other survivors float off to their doom on the derelict airship. Legendary Norwegian artic explorer Roald Amundsen, flies off in a seaplane to attempt a rescue, and is never heard from again. The castaways confront sudden cracks in the ice, broken bones, polar bear attacks, and almost staggering incompetence from their base ship back in harbor, which didn't even bother to monitor the radio most of the time. 3 of the party set off in a desperate bid to reach land and lead back a rescue party. The Norwegian Dr. Malmgren is soon too exhausted to continue, and after stoically help dig his own ice grave, bids the other two, Zappi and Mariano, on after giving them his food. The duo trudges on, clearly seeing land on the horizon, while the drift of the pack ice cancels out all their efforts. 43 days after they started, the last 12 without food, the snow blinded Zappi and Mariano sit down to await their fate. But the Russian Icebreaker Krassen miraculously rescues them just hours from death. 48 days after the crash, and against all odds, all the survivors are finally rescued. First published in 1960, this book has the advantage that the author had personal one-on-one interviews with nearly every survivor. Ironically, after coming so close to death, each survivor lived to comfortable old age, while the majority of their rescuers met early deaths, either by accident, or in the case of the Russians, in Stalin's purges. Instead of receiving a hero's welcome, Nobile was slandered by Mussolini's fascist government, who perceived him as a threat. He only received the credit due shortly before his death. This story is just begging for big screen, big budget treatment (it was the subject to a not-well-known, but good, Sean Connery movie, The Red Tent, though). Hopefully, they wont take the U571 route and change the principle characters from Italian, Czech, or Norwegian to Americans!

This story of Nobile and the Italia airship is now being actively considered by an award-winning film producer for a TV documentary on a major program. It is also being considered by two other American producers. And it will soon be a movie in Norway.

In 1925, the renowned Italian aeronautical engineer Nobile flew over the North Pole in a dirigible, at the time a considerable feat of scientific inquiry. All went well, and in 1928 Nobile attempted to repeat the feat, this time planning on stopping at the pole and landing observers on the ice. Unfortunately, by the second expedition Nobile was no longer in favor with the increasingly strident Fascist government, and faced many political and physical obstacles. However, he managed to get the expedition airborne, and reached the pole safely. On the return leg, the airship foundered in foul weather, stranding the survivors on the icecap. A bizarre tragedy ensued, with searchers from many nations looking for Nobile while Nobile's Italian support ship, sitting at the dock in Norway, conspicuously failed to participate. Well worth reading.

In the early years of the twentieth century, there were several explorers that journeyed to the North Pole. They went to vast desolate regions of terrible cold, to places of the earth that no man had gone to before. One of those explorers was Umberto Nobile of Italy. Nobile is not very well known today, but he was a man of great honor and courage. This book tells his personal story, and the story of his final polar expedition in 1928. Nobile chose a unique method for exploring the Pole: he used a lighter than air airship named the Italia. The Italia was similar in general design to the famous Hindenberg, but it was smaller and more flexible in flight. Nobile meticulously planned his exploration, but despite those preparations disaster struck and the Italia crashed onto the polar ice. The survivors then had to struggle with great endurance through desperate conditions. This is ultimately a book about courage, both from the crew of the Italia and those that tried to save them in one of the largest rescue efforts ever undertaken. Nobile had to also endure much unjust criticism and political pressure from the Fascist Government of Mussolini. His story shows how hard it can be to extend the frontiers of science; and the tremendous heart that is required to reach into the unknown.

These were the words of longtime book reviewer and former managing editor of McCall's magazine, who also called it "a truly remarkable story." A very lengthy Boston Globe review was equally favorable, concluding that it was "a gripping story" and "one might expect the story of the Italia to be a movie."