On 21st January 1885, Italian aviation pioneer and designer, as well as famous explorer of the Arctic areas, was born in Lauro, Italy.
Nobile became famous thanks to his technical skills and passion for discovery of unknown areas beyond the Arctic Circle. From his early years, Nobile was fascinated by aviation engineering, especially by works of famous airship designer, count Ferdinand von Zeppelin.
In 1925, the Norwegian Arctic explorer, Roald Amundsen, launched an expedition to reach the North Pole in N-1 airship, designed by Nobile and built by Italian State Airship Factory. The aircraft was ready in March 1926, named Norge (English: Norway) and Nobile was assigned her pilot. The expedition set off from Italy in April of the same year and at the end of the month had arrived to Svalbard archipelago.
There, Amundsen and Nobile were surprised by two Americans, Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennet, who were also aiming to reach the North Pole with a Fokker F-VII. On 9th May, Byrd and Bennet took-off from Svalbard. Sixteen hours later, after their return, the Americans claimed they have successfully overflown the Earth´s northernmost point.
Nevertheless, the Norge had continued her journey and left the archipelago on 26th May. After a fifteen-and-a-half hour flight, the airship reached the North Pole and then headed Alaska. Two days later, the expedition had successfully landed in Teller city.
Over the next years, Nobile began to work on further Arctic airships, including the N-3 for Japan and then Italia. The latter set off for her polar flight in 1928, with Nobile being both pilot and expedition leader.
Some time later, Nobile found an employment in the Soviet Union, where he was working on a Soviet dirigible programme, being involved in creation of V5 and V6 airships. Then he moved to the USA to teach aeronautics at the university. After Italy joined the war against the USA, Nobile was offered a US citizenship but he decided to move to Spain. He finally returned to Italy in late 1943, after the Armistice of Cassibile and then worked at University of Naples.
Umberto Nobile died in Rome on 30th July 1978, aged 93 – shortly after celebrating the 50th anniversary of his second Arctic journey.
(full story here)
Cover photo: Airship N-1 ´Norge´ arrives to Oslo (Ekeberg), Nasjonalbiblioteket / National Library of Norway, 1507b, Public Domain
