page_title: Italia (airship)
section_title: Milan–Ny-Ålesund
hierarchical_section_title: Italia (airship) / Polar expedition / Milan–Ny-Ålesund
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Die glückliche Landung des Nordpol-Luftschiffes "Italia" in Stolp in Pommern! Nach 30 stündigem Fluge landete das italienische Nordpolluftschiff "Italia" unter Führung des Generals Nobile wohlbehalten in Stolp in Pommern. Eine Stabiliesierungsfläche am Luftschiff wurde im Gewittersturm stark beschädigt. General Nobile der Führer des Luftschiffes "Italia" in der Kabine kurz vor der Landung.
context_page_description: The Italia was a semi-rigid airship belonging to the Italian Air Force. It was used by Italian engineer and General Umberto Nobile in his second series of flights around the North Pole. It crashed in 1928, with one confirmed fatality from the crash, one fatality from exposure while awaiting rescue, and the death of six crew members who were trapped in the still-airborne envelope. At the end of the rescue operations there were 17 dead.
context_section_description: At 01:15 on 15 April 1928, Italia took off from the base at Milano and headed for the Arctic. With 20 personnel on board, and a payload of 17,000 pounds (7,700 kg) of fuel and supplies, the initial journey to Stolp in Germany took 30 hours through a variety of bad weather conditions. Near Trieste, a wind gust damaged one of the tail fins. Later, in the Sudetes, the airship faced severe hailstorms and narrowly escaped lightning strikes. On arrival at Stolp in Pomerania, at 07:15 on 16 April, inspection revealed hail damage to the propellers and envelope, and severe tail fin damage. All of the ballast and most of the fuel had been used fighting the wind. Repairs took ten days, and the required parts and technicians had to be sent from Italy.
  Takeoff from Stolp was further delayed by bad weather, but Italia set off for Norway at 03:28 on 3 May 1928; eight hours later, escorted by Swedish naval planes, she passed over Stockholm. Crewmember Finn Malmgren spotted his house from the air and the airship descended to drop a letter to his mother. Bad weather forced Italia east over Finland; she passed over Rovaniemi at 01:49 on 4 May, reaching the mooring mast at Vadsø later that day. While the airship was moored without difficulty, blizzard conditions and heavy rain kept the crew in a state of constant anxiety but caused only minor structural damage. As soon as the weather permitted, Italia took off for Ny-Ålesund (Kings Bay) at 20:34 on 5 May, and by 05:30 the following day, had passed the meteorological station on Bear Island, but ran into high winds shortly afterwards, also suffering an engine failure. By 12:00 on 6 May, Italia had reached Kings Bay where the support ship Città di Milano was anchored under the command of Captain Giuseppe Romagna Manoja.
caption: Italia landed at Stolp in April 1928 before embarking on the polar flights. In this photograph, Nobile is seen with his dog Titina.
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