A fascinating and detailed account of the disaster that struck the airship
Italia
in the Arctic in 1928.
Perfect for readers of
Alec Wilkinson, Martin W Sandler, Buddy Levy and Valerian Albanov.
By 1928, pioneering aviator, aeronautical engineer, and Arctic explorer General Umberto Nobile had already completed one successful long-distance flight in an airship to the Arctic. The
Norge
, designed and piloted by Nobile, had been the first aircraft to fly across the polar ice cap from Europe to America and may even have been the first to reach the North Pole. Convinced that dirigibles rather than aeroplanes were the future for air travel, Nobile set out in the airship
for a second ambitious polar expedition. Where the
trip had been a collaboration with the famous Norwegian Polar explorer Roald Amundsen and his US partner, this was a purely Italian venture, caught up in the political ambitions and bitter rivalries of Mussolini's fascist government. After crashing into the ice, an international rescue operation involving eight nations was launched to attempt to reach the survivors. As man and machine battled against the elements, more lives were lost, and the controversy that followed plagued Nobile for the rest of his life. Using interviews with survivors and rescuers, including Nobile himself, international experts, contemporary documentation, and a wealth of research, Alexander McKee tells the story of one of the most tragic and intriguing air disasters of the golden age of aviation.