AIRSHIP “Italia” and the SOS from the red tent

Source: Newspapers online and wikipeadia.

The Italian airship designer and pilot Umberto Nobile had flown to the North Pole and beyond in 1926. He resolved to go back to the Arctic with a new airship in 1928. There were areas of the Arctic that had not been explored and it was believed that new lands might be there to be discovered. The expedition had geographical and scientific aims, but the political environment was also an important motivator. Mussolini and his Fascist party had come to power in 1922 and a successful expedition to the Arctic would be good propaganda. Instead, however, the ‘Italia’ was to disappear on its return from Greenland, on 25 May 1928. By the time the expedition was over, eight of the crew and nine attempted rescuers were dead and scores more had been put in harm’s way. This is the story of the search for Nobile, the ‘Italia’, and his crew, and the many men from many countries who searched for them.

Sgt. Biagi’s shortwave radio was intact after the crash and he began searching for material to construct a radio mast. He soon discovered the rear engine car smashed on the ice, and the body of Pomella, who appeared to have survived the impact and sat down on a block of ice, only to die minutes afterwards from a head injury. Despite this shock, Biagi was able to erect an antenna, and within a few hours began to send the first SOS signals from the stricken survivors

The Italia was a semi-rigid airship belonging to the Italian Air Force. It was designed by Italian engineer and General Umberto Nobile who flew the dirigible 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 (crew and rescuers).

Biagi continued to signal for help with his radio, but the connection with the support ship Città di Milano was long impeded due to the precarious conditions of operation of the field radio, the particular propagation of short waves, and the unscrupulous use of radio stations by journalists at the Italian base in Ny-Ålesund

3 June: A Soviet amateur radio operator Nikolai Schmidt in Vokhma village hears the Italia SOS signals; he is not able to intercept the coordinates of the survivors, on the contrary he gives the wrong directions.

5 June: The Norwegian pilot Lützow-Holm makes the first flight in search of the Italia. In the ensuing weeks, pilots from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia and Italy make search and rescue flights.

9 June: Radio contact is established between the ice floe and the Città di Milano. The radio station of the ship, under the command of Captain Ugo Baccarani, intercepts the coordinates of the survivors and the search takes effect.

Below a youtube video from an Italian movie about the reception of the SOS by the Soviet amateur radio Nicolaj SCHMIDT