Table of contents:
- The first flight to the North Pole and the sensation of Nobile
- Emergency expedition and crew in ice captivity
- International rescue team and Russian "barbarians" - dismissals
- Mussolini's discontent and Nobile's move to the USSR
Video: How the Russians saved the Italian general Nobile, and why he moved to live in the USSR
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
At the end of the spring of 1928, a tragedy occurred in the ice of the Arctic: the airship "Italia" crashed, making an air expedition led by Umberto Nobile. The forces of 6 European states were sent in search of the surviving crew members. The miracle happened with the light hand of a Soviet radio amateur who caught a weak radio signal from the crash site. And the members of the expedition were rescued by the team of the Russian icebreaker "Krasin", which risked its way through the Arctic ice contrary to pessimistic expectations.
The first flight to the North Pole and the sensation of Nobile
The world's first flight to the North Pole took place in the spring of 1926. Then the heroic march in the airship "Norway" was made by the Norwegian scientist Amundsen and the Italian aeronaut Nobile. Of course, there are different views on this fact. Alternative extras are called pioneers of other people, in particular, Robert Perry. However, these opinions are contested and ultimately not reliable. The weighty "Norway" over 100 meters long was bought by Amundsen from Italian inventors.
Due to the lack of competent specialists among the Norwegians, the researcher had to take the Italians into his crew. The airship was controlled by its designer Nobile, and Amundsen was in charge of the operation in general. Then the expedition ended successfully: "Norway" overcame the airspace to Alaska through the North Pole. The only thing was that the relationship between Amundsen and Nobile went wrong, each of which claimed the primacy. Returning home, the latter turned into a national hero. Mussolini elevated him to the rank of general and instructed him to urgently organize the next northern expedition in an airship under a single national flag. The airship was symbolically named "Italy".
Emergency expedition and crew in ice captivity
Two years later, in May 1928, Nobile led an expedition of 16 people from the island of Svalbard to the North Pole. Having reached the planned point on the map, the crew could not land among the ice due to weather conditions. But to fix the result, it was decided to throw off the oak cross from “Italy”. From the airship it was reported that the return course was taken, and after a while the connection with the machine was cut off. Due to severe icing and gas leakage, the airship, not reaching Svalbard about 100 km, lost altitude and fell on the ice.
Several crew members died at once, and six others were carried away by the lightweight shell of the broken gondola. The remaining nine balloonists were trapped in a harsh ice captivity with limited provisions, a tent and a weak radio station. Nobile himself received serious injuries. The surviving members of the expedition could only hope for a miracle, and it happened. A low-power radio signal was caught by a Russian radio amateur Nikolai Schmidt. So the world became aware of the tragedy.
International rescue team and Russian "barbarians" - dismissals
Italian rescuers were the first to go to the Arctic. In addition to them, Russians, Norwegians and Swedes volunteered. But the representatives of the countries acted on their own, the relations between the participants in the rescue mission were strained, and Mussolini himself played a significant role in this. He was so concerned about the prestige of his state that he refused to organize a single operation with a common command center. And only Amundsen, despite his disagreements with Nobile, did not stop. He in the forefront rushed to pull out a restive colleague, having bought a seaplane in France and hired a crew. Amundsen flew to the crash site on June 18 and was never seen again.
The Soviet Union sent icebreakers "Krasin" and "Malygin" with planes taking off from the ice to help. The Italians and the Swedes in the most difficult weather conditions dropped food, medicine and batteries for walkie-talkies from planes into the crash square. Only the Swedish pilot Lundborg managed to land on the ice. He evacuated Nobile from the ice floe with his dog. The general agreed to be the first to escape only because of the need for competent leadership of the operation from the island. During the re-landing, Lundborg's plane capsized, and the rescuer himself had to be rescued. The Swedes who pulled out the pilot completed their mission there.
The Italians who remained in the ice decided to walk to Svalbard. But a hundred kilometers in the Arctic is a very harsh frontier. Meteorologist Malmgren, for example, unable to withstand the load during the transition, voluntarily remained to freeze in the endless ice.
On July 11, the group was discovered by pilots from the Soviet Krasin, which had successfully entered the heavy ice. True, during landing, the Junkers was severely beaten, both propellers and the chassis were out of order. However, the pilots, having food in stock and an airplane as a shelter, insisted that the Krasin first go to the Italians, and then to them. At the same time, the days of waiting were not easy: the food ran out, and they had to hunt bears. Yes, and I had to sleep in turns; in the supine position, the entire crew could not fit into the plane. In the end, the icebreaker "Krasin" picked up all the surviving aeronauts of the "Italia", and then rescued the Soviet pilots. And Swedish journalists in those days informed the world that the Russians fulfilled their duty in silence and without sacrifice. And this, as the newspaper "Eresudane" wrote, will remain on the glorious account of the people, who are often called the barbarians of civilization.
Mussolini's discontent and Nobile's move to the USSR
At the end of the rescue operation, Nobile caused extreme displeasure in Mussolini's eyes. According to the leader, the negligent scientist humiliated Italy in front of the whole world. Thus ended the general's Italian career. After the failure, he decided to link his life with the USSR, going there to live and build a new airship. He was eager to build an air machine that would not crash, and thus rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the public. This is how the largest airship V-6 appeared in the Soviet Union. But already in 1938, a catastrophe befell him.
Today, not everyone knows that the Russian socialist had a strong influence on the Italian dictator. So, Angelica Balabanova raised Benito Mussolini by helping him in party work.
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