Umberto Nobile

Umberto Nobile
Umberto Nobile
Born	21 January 1885 (age 141); Lauro, Avellino, Italy
Died	30 July 1978 (aged 93)
Occupation(s)	Aeronautical engineer, aviator, Arctic explorer

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Umberto Nobile (Italian pronunciation: [umˈbɛrto ˈnɔːbile]; born 21 January 1885 – died 30 July 1978) was an Italian aeronautical engineer, aviator, and Arctic explorer.

During the interwar period, Nobile was instrumental in advancing and advocating for semi-rigid airship technology. He is chiefly recognized for designing and commanding the airship Norge, which is considered potentially the first aircraft to reach the North Pole and definitively the inaugural airship to traverse the polar ice cap between Europe and America. Additionally, Nobile designed and captained a second polar airship named Italia. This subsequent expedition ended tragically with a crash, triggering an international rescue operation during which some rescuers also perished or disappeared under fatal circumstances.

Early career

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Umberto Nobile with his dog Titina in 1926

Umberto Nobile was born in Lauro, located in the southern Italian province of Avellino, into a family of modest landowners. His father, Vincenzo, worked as a civil servant and belonged to a junior branch of an aristocratic lineage that lost its noble titles following the Italian unification due to their persistent allegiance to the ousted Bourbons. This allegiance was the reason behind adopting the surname Nobile.

After earning an industrial engineering degree from the University of Naples in 1908, Nobile joined the Italian state railway company. By 1911, his focus shifted toward aeronautical engineering, leading him to enroll in a program offered by the Engineers Corps of the Italian Army. During World War I, he served as a military engineer at Rome’s Military Factory for Aeronautical Construction and Experience (Stabilimento Militare di Costruzioni ed Esperienze Aeronautiche). There, he developed airships intended for anti-submarine patrols—15 of which were constructed after the war—and also instructed officer candidates. In 1918, he designed Italy’s first domestically produced parachute. He held the position of director at this Factory from 1919 until 1927.

In addition to his engineering work, Nobile lectured at the University of Naples, acquired his test pilot certification, and authored the textbook Elementi di Aerodinamica (Elements of Aerodynamics).Template:Fix/category^{[citation needed]}

During this period, Nobile concentrated on creating medium-sized semi-rigid airships, convinced that they offered advantages over both non-rigid and rigid models. One early project at the Military Factory was the T-34, designed for transatlantic flights. The United States Army purchased this hydrogen-filled airship in late 1921, renaming it Roma. Unfortunately, in February 1922, Roma crashed and exploded near Norfolk, Virginia, after striking high-voltage power lines, resulting in 34 fatalities—the deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history at that time.

In the same year, Nobile collaborated with Gianni Caproni on designing Italy’s first all-metal aircraft, the Caproni Ca.73. He also traveled to the United States to serve as a consultant for Goodyear in Akron, Ohio. By 1923, he commenced work on a new airship model, the N-1, which was produced for clients in the United States, Spain, Argentina, and Japan. In January 1927, Nobile personally visited Japan to oversee assembly of the N-3 airship sold to the Japanese Imperial Navy, participating actively in several test flights. Later on, he asserted that during this era he encountered opposition from influential figures within the Air Force hierarchy—among them Italo Balbo—who dismissed some of the Military Factory’s top workers due to suspicions of anti-fascist sentiments, impeded plans for a Rome-Rio de Janeiro flight, and withheld support for polar exploration initiatives.

Polar expeditions

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Umberto Nobile, commanding the Norge, peers from the control car window as the airship departs the Spitsbergen base

Norge

In late 1925, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen approached Nobile to join forces for an airship journey to the North Pole—a feat not yet accomplished by aviators at that time. Earlier that year, Amundsen had flown within 150 nautical miles (280 km) of the Pole in two Italian-made Dornier Wal flying boats alongside American adventurer Lincoln Ellsworth and pilot Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen. However, their aircraft were compelled to land near 88 degrees North, leaving the six men stranded on the ice for a month.

The Italian State Airship Factory, creators of Nobile’s N-1, provided the airship for this mission on 29 March 1926. Amundsen stipulated in the agreement that Nobile would serve as pilot and that five crew members be Italian;^[1] reflecting these conditions. The airship was named Norge (meaning Norway) by Amundsen. Departing Italy on 14 April, the Norge made stops in Pulham, England, and Oslo before heading to its Arctic launch site at Ny-Ålesund (Kings Bay), Vestspitsbergen, Svalbard, under Norwegian sovereignty. En route, it also paused at the airship mast in Vadsø, Northern Norway.

Amundsen was unsettled on 29 April 1926 by the arrival of Richard E. Byrd’s American expedition, which had similar North Pole ambitions.^[1] After Byrd and Floyd Bennett departed on 9 May in their Fokker F-VII and returned within sixteen hours claiming to have flown over the Pole, Amundsen was among those who promptly congratulated them.^[1] Meanwhile, the crew of the Norge continued with their planned voyage.^[1]

The Norge expedition took off from Svalbard on 11 May 1926. After fifteen and a half hours of flight, they passed over the North Pole and landed two days later in Teller, Alaska;^[1] adverse winds had prevented a scheduled landing at Nome, Alaska. Retrospectively, the Norge team is credited with being the first to fly over the Pole: Byrd’s 9 May flight—long celebrated as the pioneering Polar overflight—has since faced significant scrutiny,^[1] including revelations from Byrd’s flight diary that exposed falsified navigational records. Bennett later confessed that their claimed Polar flight was fabricated.

The Norge journey from Rome to Nome was hailed as a major aviation accomplishment; however, tensions soon arose between Nobile—both designer and pilot—and Amundsen—expedition leader and observer—over recognition for their roles.^[1] This dispute intensified due to Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime promoting Italian technological prowess and exploration achievements. Nobile was compelled to undertake a speaking tour across the United States, which further distanced him from Amundsen and his Norwegian compatriots.

Italia

Although controversy surrounded him, Nobile maintained positive connections with fellow polar researchers and began organizing a fresh expedition, this time entirely under Italian jurisdiction. His company succeeded in selling the N-3 airship to Japan; nevertheless, his relationship with rivals within the fascist regime was antagonistic, subjecting Nobile and his team to intimidation and threats. Due to his widespread public support, he remained temporarily shielded from direct assaults. Upon revealing the plans for his forthcoming expedition, Italo Balbo reportedly remarked, "Let him proceed, for he cannot possibly return to trouble us any further."

The airship Italia, closely modeled on the Norge, was gradually assembled and outfitted for Arctic exploration between 1927 and 1928. Securing private investment proved challenging; ultimately, funding was provided by Milan's municipal authorities. The Italian government’s involvement was limited to supplying the airship and dispatching the aging steamship Città di Milano as a support vessel to Svalbard, commanded by Giuseppe Romagna.

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"N3," Japan at Kasumigaura, Japan on 24 May 1927

During the journey to Svalbard, the airship utilized a German hangar located in Stolp (present-day Słupsk) and stopped at the mast in Vadsø, Northern Norway. On 23 May 1928, following an impressive 69-hour flight to the Siberian Arctic islands, the Italia embarked on its North Pole mission with Nobile serving as both pilot and expedition leader. The following day, it reached the Pole and had begun its return toward Svalbard when it encountered a severe storm. On 25 May, less than 30 kilometers north of Nordaustlandet in eastern Svalbard, the Italia crashed onto the drifting sea ice. Of the sixteen crew members aboard, ten were thrown onto the ice as the gondola shattered; six others remained trapped within the buoyant superstructure as it ascended after losing the gondola. Among those on the ice, Pomella died from the crash impact; Nobile sustained multiple injuries including fractures to his arm, leg, rib, and head trauma; Cecioni suffered two severely broken legs; Malmgren endured a serious shoulder wound and suspected kidney damage; while Zappi had several broken ribs.

The survivors managed to recover several essential items from the wrecked gondola, including a radio transmitter, a tent they later painted red for greater visibility, and crucially, supplies of food and survival gear which engineer Ettore Arduino had wisely thrown onto the ice before he and five others were carried away by the still airborne but damaged envelope and keel of the airship. Over subsequent days, drifting sea ice carried the group toward Foyn and Broch islands.

Several days post-crash, Swedish meteorologist Finn Malmgren along with Nobile's second and third in command—Mariano and Zappi—opted to leave the stationary group and attempt to reach land on foot. Malmgren, weakened by injuries and reportedly burdened by guilt over meteorological advice he believed contributed to the disaster, asked his companions to proceed without him. Mariano and Zappi were rescued weeks later by the Soviet icebreaker Krasin. However, persistent rumors circulated alleging that Malmgren had been killed and cannibalized by Mariano and Zappi.

A dramatized and highly fictionalized portrayal of these events was depicted in the 1969 film The Red Tent. This Italian-Soviet collaboration starred Peter Finch as Nobile, Sean Connery as Amundsen, and Hardy Krüger as Lundborg.

Disputed search and rescue operation

Following the accident, a coalition of countries—including the Soviet Union, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Italy—initiated the inaugural polar air and maritime rescue mission. Privately owned vessels, chartered by polar researchers and explorers, also took part in the operation. Notably, Roald Amundsen set aside previous conflicts with Nobile to join a French seaplane bound for the rescue command center; however, this aircraft vanished en route between Tromsø and Svalbard. Although a float from the plane was subsequently discovered, the remains of Amundsen, pilot René Guilbaud, and the four other passengers were never recovered.

After enduring nearly a month in harsh conditions, the survivors of the Italia were finally reached by a Swedish Air Force Fokker C.V-E ski plane, flown by Lieutenant Einar Lundborg with Lieutenant Schyberg as observer. Nobile had devised a thorough evacuation priority list, placing the most seriously injured mechanic Cecioni first and himself fourth; the navigator (Viglieri) and radio operator (Biagi) followed as fifth and sixth. Despite this, Lundborg insisted on rescuing only Nobile, citing the aircraft’s limited capacity and concerns about taking aboard Cecioni due to his weight. Nobile was flown to Søre Russøya, which served as the base for Swedish and Finnish air rescue teams. When Lundborg attempted a second pickup alone, he crashed upon landing and became stranded with the remaining five survivors.

Eventually, Nobile arrived at the Città di Milano, where he expressed disappointment at the perceived inefficiency he encountered. His efforts to assist in coordinating the multinational rescue operation were obstructed, and when he threatened to withdraw, Captain Romagna effectively placed him under house arrest. His communications to those still stranded on the ice and to rescue personnel were heavily censored. Italian Fascist newspapers inaccurately portrayed his evacuation as an act of cowardice. After 48 days on the ice floe, Soviet icebreaker Krasin rescued the final five crew members. Although Nobile wished to continue searching for the six crew lost during the airship's destruction, he was ordered back to Rome along with others.

Two hundred thousand enthusiastic Italians greeted Nobile and his team upon their return to Rome on 31 July—a reception that caught his critics off guard. These adversaries had been spreading allegations against him in both foreign and domestic media. Feeling wronged, Nobile openly voiced his grievances during an interview with Benito Mussolini, which offended the dictator due to its frankness. The official investigation into the crash provided his opponents with an opportunity: they placed blame squarely on Nobile and accused him of deserting his men on the ice—allegations he would spend much of his life contesting. In response to these conclusions, General Nobile resigned from military service in March 1929.

Later life

In July 1931, Nobile participated in an expedition aboard the Soviet icebreaker Malygin, exploring the region of Franz Josef Land and the northern Kara Sea. He relocated to the Soviet Union in 1932, residing there for nearly five years to contribute to the Soviet semi-rigid airship initiative. Although limited information about this program exists, Nobile oversaw the construction of three airships, including the SSSR-V6 OSOAVIAKhIM, and was responsible for designing two additional airships intended for military applications.

Nobile made his way back to Italy in December 1936 after being named a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. During a brief period, he collaborated with Caproni on aviation innovations, focusing on techniques to recover from aerodynamic spins and developing an aircraft capable of transporting either a motorboat or a tank.

Facing opposition from the Fascist regime, Nobile emigrated to the United States in 1939, where he taught at Lewis University (then known as Lewis Holy Name School of Aeronautics) located in Romeoville and Chicago. Although he was allowed to stay in the US after Italy declared war on America, he declined naturalization and chose to return to Europe in May 1942. After a short time in Rome, he moved to Spain, remaining there until Mussolini’s fall, after which he permanently returned to Italy.

In 1945, the Italian Air Force exonerated Nobile from all accusations related to the Italia crash. They not only reinstated him at his previous rank of major general but also promoted him to lieutenant general and granted him back pay dating from 1928. The following year, he was elected as an independent candidate on the Italian Communist Party list to the Constituent Assembly. Within this role, he was part of the 75-member committee responsible for drafting the main text of the Italian Constitution.

By 1948, Nobile resumed his academic career at the University of Naples, where he both studied and taught courses on aeronautics and astronautics. He continued providing interviews and authoring books and articles until his passing, although he never fully convinced public opinion or certain military experts regarding his account of his polar expeditions.

Nobile passed away in Rome on 30 July 1978 at age 93, shortly after commemorations marking the fiftieth anniversary of his two expeditions. The Italian Air Force Museum at Vigna di Valle hosts an extensive permanent exhibition dedicated to his accomplishments. Additionally, a museum in his hometown of Lauro preserves his documents and personal memorabilia.

Personal life

From 1916 until her passing in 1934, Nobile was wed to Carlotta Ferraiolo, the daughter of a prosperous notary based in Teano, who was a decade his senior. The couple had one daughter named Maria. In 1959, Nobile entered into a second marriage with Gertrude Stolp, a German national he encountered in Spain in 1943. Stolp subsequently assumed the role of chief librarian at the Food and Agriculture Organization's headquarters in Rome.

Notes

References

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External links

Umberto Nobile at Open Library
Internet Archive works by Umberto Nobile
The Papers of Umberto Nobile held at Dartmouth College Library
Correspondence from Umberto Nobile to Harriet Lund at Dartmouth College Library

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