Umberto Nobile And the Arctic Search for the Airship Italia

• Loss of the airship Italia in 1928; the mystery illuminated by new research
  
  
• Benito Mussolini, Fascism and the airship Italia
  
  
• Airship designer/pilot Umberto Nobile and the airship age
  
  
• Airships, aviation, nationalism and the totalitarian governments of Italy and the Soviet Union

By the time it was over, eight of the crew and nine rescuers were dead and scores more had been put in harm’s way.

The disappearance and search for the airship Italia was headline news, all over the world, for months after its last radio message on 25 May 1928. It had reported being to the north-east of its base at Kings Bay, on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen, returning from a long flight to Greenland and the North Pole.

Ships, aircraft and men from many countries converged on Kings Bay to participate in the rescue effort. The Italian airship designer and pilot Umberto Nobile had flown to the North Pole and beyond in 1926. He resolved to return to the Arctic with a new airship in 1928. The expedition had geographical and scientific aims, but the political environment was also an important motivator. Benito Mussolini and his fascist party had come to power in 1922 and a successful expedition to the Arctic would be excellent propaganda.

[custom_html] Adventure and politics during the search for an airship lost in the Arctic in the late 1920s.
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[smallDescription]Adventure and politics during the search for an airship lost in the Arctic in the late 1920s.
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[tabs] [tab title="AUTHOR(S)"]Garth Cameron is a lawyer specialising in aviation law and lives in the South Island of New Zealand. He was educated at the University of Otago where he completed degrees in history and law. He was a commercial pilot and flying instructor before being admitted to the bar and starting a law practice where he practiced criminal law for many years before turning to aviation law. He still flies and is also a glider pilot and instructor. This is his fourth book.
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