Realm Of Ice And Sky: Triumph, Tragedy, And History's Greatest Arctic Rescue, Levy - B

          This book "is a serial history of the aerial explorations to reach the summit of the earth."  The first attempt was made by Chicago newspaperman and explorer, Walter Wellman, whose dirigible, America, set sail from Spitsbergen on Sept. 2, 1907. The vessel had been built in Paris, shipped north by sea, and assembled in the Arctic. The amount of supplies and equipment Wellman gathered to build, fuel, and protect the 185 foot long dirigible massively exceeded the usual sail and sled approach to polar exploration. Within hours of its start on the 700 mile trip to the North Pole, America crashed on a glacier. Wellman, his men, and the airship were rescued and returned to Spitsbergen. Two years later, the airship again failed the first day. This time, the crew settled into the sea and were rescued by a Norwegian ship. Later that summer, both Cook and Peary claimed the Pole, and Wellman knew his quest was over. His last attempt at fame was a trip across the Atlantic that foundered about 1,000 miles east of the US coast. He was acclaimed for the longest flight in history.

           Legendary explorer Raold Amundsen announced in 1924 that he would fly from Norway to the Pole and on to Alaska. On May 21, 1925, the six men of the Amundsen-Ellsworth Expedition took off in two custom built planes. One faltered about 150 miles from the Pole. The entire team returned to Spitsbergen in the other plane. They were soon back with a 350 foot rigid dirigible built in Italy and renamed Norge. Also, they faced competition from Americans, Floyd Bennett and Richard Byrd. Byrd and Bennett took off first, and returned 15 hours later claiming the Pole. Under the command of the Italian designer and builder Umberto Nobile, the Norge circled 90 north on May 12, 1926. After seventy-one hours and 2,700 miles, they landed in Alaska. Amundsen then announced his retirement. He and one of his colleagues, Omar Wisting, had been to 90 south fifteen years previously.  Many feel that Peary's proofs were inadequate, and that Amundsen actually was first to both Poles.

         Umberto Nobile, desirous of fame and glory for Italy, convinced his government to build the Italia and finance an Arctic exploration. The 350 foot dieigible safely flew to the Arctic, took a preliminary flight along the Soviet coast, and on May 24, 1928,  circled the Pole for a few hours. A day later, multiple malfunctions in difficult weather caused the Italia to crash. The survivors rigged a radio and sent out an SOS. Two weeks later, their radio received the response that an Italian naval vessel was on the way. 

        Amundsen felt, based on the explorers creed, he too should search.  A crew of six took off in a large flying boat on June 18th, and the greatest polar explorer of all time was never seen again. The Last Viking was gone, and all of Norway mourned.

       Soon, a Swedish pilot landed and began ferrying the Italia survivors back to Spitsbergen. On July 12th, a Soviet icebreaker finished the task. Mussolini's government harshly criticized and censured Nobile. Only in 1945 was his rank and reputation restored. Nonetheless, the era of polar exploration by airship was over. Ironically, a century later, various entrepreneurs are building and testing massive modern dirigibles. Fun read.