From Pole to Pole

by Garth James Cameron

  The stern of Norge sticking out from a hangar. Airship hangers were among the biggest buildings constructed during the heyday of the airship (1910–1940). Norge was enormous: 106 m long, 18.4 m in diameter and 25 m high from the bumpers under the control and rear engine cars to the top of the envelope. The envelope contained 18500 m3 of hydrogen. This is one of the few photographs which gives a sense of how big the airship was. The size of airships had a positive effect on the imaginations of many and contributed to their popularity.

  The crew was Nobile as captain, Riiser-Larsen as first officer and navigator, with the rest of the crew being a mix of Norwegians and Italians, plus Malmgren from Sweden. The Norge also carried Mercier, a French airship captain, to help navigate the ship if they had to divert to a French airship base. Major George Herbert Scott (who had helped to train Riiser-Larsen as an airship pilot a few years earlier) was aboard to help with communications and navigation in Britain. At 22:00, they crossed the brightly lit city of Bordeaux and shortly afterwards encountered headwinds. At times the ground speed dropped to just over 20 kt.

  They flew on throughout the night using two of the three motors, each turning over at 1,200 rpm, giving an airspeed of around 43 kt. This was the most economical airspeed and gave the maximum range. The groundspeed varied as the headwind component of the wind increased or decreased.

  At 07:00 on the morning of April 11, the airship left the north coast of France near the city of Caen. The Norwegians aboard felt the cold keenly, but the Italians had fur-lined coats, meaning the decision by Nobile to deny the Norwegians the overalls, gloves, and helmets delivered to the airship at Ciampino was the subject of considerable resentment. At 15:00 Norge arrived over Pulham to find a crowd of 3,000 people waiting for them. The landing did not take place until 17:00 and Crown Prince Olav, son of King Haakon VII, was there to greet them. Also present was the Air Minister, as a representative of the British government. After landing, the airship was walked into one of the hangars and berthed alongside the British rigid airship, R33, the sister ship of R34 (which had made the double crossing of the North Atlantic back in 1919). Norge had covered about 1,080 nm in 30 hours at a ground speed of around 36 kt. They had been airborne for about 32 hours and were very tired.

  The crew was shown to a barracks where they could sleep and were provided with food and drink. During the flight they had subsisted on chocolate, biscuits, one thermos of coffee each, and water. Early next morning the Norwegians encountered a cultural difference between them and the Italian crew members. The Italians were awake and very vocal at times when the others would have preferred silence, followed by a quiet breakfast and a cup of coffee. During the stay, they mixed with the crew of R33 who were disappointed that the stay was not longer. The only member of the crew not welcome was Nobile’s dog, Titina, who was locked up in quarantine for the duration of the stay.

  The flight plan had included a stay at Pulham for about a week, but the weather for the next two legs of the flight, to Oslo and Gatchina, was good so they started to prepare Norge for flight as soon as they had had a night’s sleep and a meal. The ship had its hydrogen gas, petrol, oil, and food replenished. Just before departure the chief coxswain of R33 said that his crew would come and get them if they were forced down during their flight. Between 00:00 and 01:00 on April 14. Norge lifted off from Pulham bound for Oslo. Oslo was about 500 nm away, and the flight would take about 12 hours if there was no wind and navigation was precise, both conditions being unlikely. There were 20 persons on board including the Norwegian naval attaché to Great Britain.

  “The city was en fête. Norge over Oslo on April 14, 1926 before docking at the mooring mast built outside the city for the flight of Norge. This was the only time the mast was used.

  Shortly after crossing the English coast and flying out over the North Sea the conditions became hazy, and a crew member was placed with a bright light shining downwards to give some warning if they descended too low. An altimeter is accurate only when set to the ambient air pressure. This varies, and if the pressure decreases the altimeter will over-read, the reverse being true if the pressure increases. It was best to assume that the altimeter was not accurate when flying in poor visibility. The flight continued through fog and when Norge emerged from it the navigator identified its position as being over Jylland, just south of Limfjord in Denmark and some miles southeast of the planned track. They changed course to port and again encountered fog which obliged them to climb above it and fly in a clear blue sky with the top of the pure white fog bank reflecting the sunshine. The air was perfectly still and they experienced several hours of a dream-like flight disturbed only by the knowledge that they could not see the surface and could not estimate their drift and groundspeed. Norge left the fog behind and, reaching the coast of Norway south of Oslo, they saw flags flying and many faces looking up in every town and village they passed over. After a flight of around 12 hours they arrived over Oslo and circled to give the citizens of the capital a good view of “their” airship. The city was “en fête” with crowds on every street, every park and many rooftops. Norwegian flags were flying in abundance. The mooring mast was at Ekeberg and Norge approached to make its first docking to a mast since training at Ciampino. A cable was led over rollers at the base of the mast, up through a swivel arm at the top, and out through the red docking cone. From there it was dropped to the ground and hauled about 300 m downwind of the mast. The airship approached the mast from the downwind side, at about twice the height of the mast. A wire was dropped from the center of its reinforced nose. The airship then dropped some ballast forward to compensate for the weight of the cable. The cables were shackled together, and the airship was slowly drawn towards the mast by a party of men who walked away with the cable until the reinforced nose of Norge fitted snugly into the red painted cone at the top of the swivel arm.

  A gangway was lowered from the nose of the airship, and connections for gas, petrol, and water were made. Norge was free to swivel through 360° while moored, so it always pointed into wind. It was 15:00 and a little over 14 hours since departure from Pulham. The docking cable was released and coiled in the bow of the airship. Part of the crew remained aboard throughout the stay because the ship needed to be ‘flown’ while at the mast.

  Norge approaching the mooring mast at Oslo on April 14, 1926.

  King Haakon was on hand to greet the flyers and congratulate them on their achievements so far. It had been intended that Norge would stay at Ekeberg until late on the morning of April 15, but the forecast was for bad weather, so the Norwegian crew members only had two hours leave to visit their homes, friends, and families.

  At 01:08 on April 15, Nobile ordered the airship unhooked from the mast. The rope was paid out and then cut. Norge was light and slowly rose into the air while the engines were started. Norge shaped a course for Gatchina airfield, near Leningrad, about 650 nm away to the east. They had promised to fly over Stockholm and Helsinki on the way to Leningrad. Fog was encountered soon after the departure, and the sky was hazy so the sun could not be ‘shot’ to provide a line of position. The navigator could not estimate the drift without sight of the surface, and Norge passed to the south of both capital cities. They had no navigational information from the wireless for some hours, and could not communicate with the Soviet stations. When the fog cleared they were over land and thought it was northern Finland but, after changes of course and following a railway line, they read a sign at a station which said “Valga,” a town on the border of Estonia and the Soviet Union. It was 14:00 and they were south of the Gulf of Finland, not north of it.

  Riiser-Larsen had visited Leningrad and Moscow in January 1926 and had no trouble finding Gatchina once the railway station was located on the map. They changed course to the north and at 21:30, in pitch darkness (there was a power failure on the ground), they landed at Gatchina. The landing party formed a V with the apex into wind, and Norge approached upwind. The party of soldiers walked Norge into a hangar while Radio Operator
Olonkin (a Russian) translated the orders given by the officer in charge of the soldiers. The hangar was a wooden one which had been in poor condition, but had been refurbished especially for the visit of Norge. They were struck by the distinctive cap/helmets with the pointed top that the soldiers wore with their yellowish capes and high boots. There was deep snow lying on the ground and it was very cold. Norge had flown 641 nm in 17 hours, at an average ground speed of 38 kt.

  They were transported on horse-drawn sledges to a building in the grounds of the old Imperial Palace of Gatchina. The accommodations were spartan but adequate, and they got the sleep they craved after the long journey from England; they had been awake for most of the last 48 hours. Nobile had been awake for 60 hours. They had a long stay at Gatchina while they waited for a favourable weather forecast and confirmation that facilities at Vadsø, and Kings Bay were ready to receive them. Each crew member was issued with a pass and they soon found that the Soviets took security seriously. The hangar was surrounded by barbed wire and guards armed with rifles with fixed bayonets. A visit to the hangar required presentation of the pass several times, and leaving the hangar the same process in reverse order. Members of the crew were in the hangar to look after Norge at all times, the aeronautical equivalent of the nautical “anchor watch.” When Italian technicians arrived at Gatchina they shared this duty. There was great interest in the airship, and an estimated 10,000 people passed through the hangar on the first Sunday after its arrival. The crew used their time to visit the art collections in the Hermitage in Leningrad and saw a performance of the ballet Esmeralda. On April 22, word was received that Vadsø was ready to receive the airship, but two days later they heard that Svalbard would not be ready until May 2. Nobile wrote that at that point Amundsen telegraphed him with a proposal that the flight be delayed until June on the grounds that there would be less chance of icing at that time of year. Nobile rejected that suggestion, and the expedition proceeded as planned.

  On May 5, 1926, at 04:30, the crew turned out, and at 09:30, Norge was airborne. The ship flew over Leningrad (which looked beautiful from the air) and then steered for Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. The air was more turbulent than at any other part of the flight, and the airship pitched and rolled continuously although none of the crew was airsick. The picked up the Murmansk railway and followed it towards the White Sea. At 16:40, just south of Kirkenes in Norway the crankshaft of the port engine broke and Norge continued on two engines. They arrived at Vadsø, circled over the town, and by 06:40 on May 6, the airship was moored to the mast (located on the center of a small island), and Nobile and crew, were welcomed by the Italian ground crew, including the inimitable Rossi. Rossi and three Italian workmen had erected the mast (constructed in Italy) in just 20 days. Nobile wrote that the flight had taken 21 hours and had covered about 730 nm at an average ground speed of 35 kt. Nobile ate a meal at the Governor’s house, which was decorated with Italian flags, and the crew were given as much coffee and food as they could consume by the townspeople. There were reserve motors at Vadsø, but Nobile elected to fly the Vadsø-Kings Bay leg on two engines. He preferred to proceed while the weather forecast was good rather than change engines, by which time the weather might deteriorate.

  At 15:00 Norge unhooked from the mast and set off, following the coast as far as Vardø, and then setting a course for Bear Island. A sighting of Bear Island would give them a positive fix and would be a departure point for the second half of the flight. Soon after leaving the coast, the weather turned stormy with whitecaps on the sea, and rain which turned into a heavy snow fall. A snow build-up on Norge had been a worry for Nobile, but did not happen on this occasion. In 79° north they sighted a huge iceberg and at 21:45 Norge sighted Bear Island and passed to the east of it. At 11:58, one of the two remaining engines stopped with a broken cross-head and for two hours they had to fly on one. The damaged engine was partially dismantled and the (very hot) parts were carried over the narrow walkway to the keel gangway where they were worked on. The mechanics reassembled the engine and got it running. The decision to start on a long over-water flight in the Arctic with only two out of three engines running was surely an error of judgment on Nobile’s part, but he got away with it, just. He had been on his feet for 31 hours when Norge left Vadsø, and fatigue was probably a factor in the decision to proceed without installing a replacement engine. After being awake for 40 hours, Nobile slept briefly in a sleeping bag given to him by Norwegian naval officers at Vadsø. Lippi, at the helm, was first to sight Spitsbergen, and at 02:20 on May 7, the airship crossed the coast. They encountered fog soon after reaching Spitsbergen, and made contact with Kings Bay with the wireless. At Kings Bay they sent up a small tethered balloon to mark the airship base, but the fog dissipated and the base, was clear before the airship arrived. At 06:40 Norge entered Kings Bay, and Nobile saw the buildings, mast, and hangar.

  Norge at Kings Bay.

  While Norge had been making its flight, work had continued at Kings Bay to finish the mooring mast and to ensure the airship would find a completely equipped airship base when it arrived. On April 21, 1926, the Knut Skaaluren arrived at Ny-Ålesund with passengers including Amundsen, Ellsworth, and 26-year-old Bernt Balchen, a pilot and mechanic in the Norwegian navy. Amundsen was a friend of the Balchen family and Bernt had been introduced to him in 1912, soon after his return from the Antarctic and the South Pole. Balchen (then 12 years old) wanted to be a polar explorer, and said as much to Amundsen who responded with his usual amused tolerance. Balchen’s parents were mortified by their son’s presumptuousness in addressing the great man. Later, Bernt’s mother told him that Amundsen was the last Viking. Amundsen’s mother had said the same thing when Amundsen was training for a life as an explorer. Balchen had studied forestry and then enlisted in the French Foreign Legion during World War I before joining the Norwegian Army and being sent to Artillery School. After the Russian Revolutions of 1917, a civil war broke out in Finland, which had declared its independence. Balchen joined the Finnish White army, which defeated the Finnish Red army. On one occasion his horse was shot from under him and he was left for dead on the battlefield. While recovering from wounds he trained hard to represent Norway at boxing in the 1920 Olympics, although he was not included in the team. In 1921, he was accepted for flight training with the Norwegian Navy. He met Amundsen again in 1925, when he was at Kings Bay with the Norwegian floatplanes sent to search for the missing North Pole expedition, and Amundsen recruited him for the 1926 expedition. Just before coming to Svalbard in 1926 he had been selected for the 50 km country race in the International Ski Derby at Holmenkollen and wrote that this was ‘the highest ambition for a Norwegian’. In his autobiography, Balchen was open about the admiration he had for Amundsen. There was already a monument at Ny-Ålesund to commemorate Amundsen’s epic 1925 flight.

  No sooner had the Knut Skaaluren arrived than a two-day gale and blizzard produced snow up to the second storey of the mining company’s buildings. The narrow gauge railway was under two meters of snow, and another way of getting the supplies from the wharf to the hangar and mast (a distance of about 2,500 m) had to be found. Balchen repaired a tractor owned by the mining company. The tractor and a pony, also owned by the company, worked long hours to move cargo from the pier to the site of the hangar and mooring mast. The Norwegian Navy gunboat Heimdal was there to assist the expedition and its sailors worked on carrying cargo to the site. The biggest crate weighed several tons and the tractor broke its drive shaft towing it. On opening it Balchen and the others found lighting equipment including a large searchlight. At Ny-Ålesund the sun rises on April 7, and sets on September 10, so this equipment was redundant.

  The mooring mast was 130 ft. high, the highest structure in the Arctic. It would not be usable until the red painted metal cone, that the nose of the airship docked into, was attached to its top. The sun was up 24 hours a day, and shifts worked around the clock. Balchen was a skilled mechanic and after the tractor broke its drive shaft he manufacture
d and fitted a new one.

  At 10:00 on April 29 the smoke of a ship was seen and the radio operator at Ny-Ålesund picked up a message from the ship. It was the Chantier, the expedition ship for Commander Richard Byrd’s attempt to fly to the North Pole and back. At 14:00 the ship entered the bay and Balchen watched as it made its way through the “blue and iridescent green cakes of ice which have been calved by the crumbling glacier at the head of the bay.” There was every chance that Byrd and his pilot would make the first flight to and from the North Pole. Amundsen always played down the competitive nature of the activities of the two expeditions. He always wrote that since Peary had already been to the Pole in 1909, there was no value in being the first to fly there. The Norwegian members of Amundsen’s expedition did not see it that way; they had a strong loyalty to Amundsen and saw Byrd as an interloper in what should be a Norwegian effort to get to the Pole from Norwegian territory. Balchen described Amundsen as he was at Ny-Ålesund waiting for the Byrd expedition vessel to drop anchor: