Ny Ålesund was the
starting point for Roald Amundsen's attempts to fly
to the North Pole in 1925 by seaplane and then by
airship in 1926.
The airship mooring point can be seen towards the
right of this picture. It was from this place that
the Norwegian Roald Amundsen, the Italian Umberto
Nobile and American Lincoln Ellsworth left in the
airship Norge in 1926 successfully reaching the North Pole.
Nobile also left from here in 1928 to repeat his
trip to the North Pole, in another airship called
Italia. The airship crashed on the way back killing
half of the crew though Nobile survived. Amundsen
flew from Norway by seaplane to help in the rescue,
he was never seen again after taking off from
Trømso.
78° 55' N 11° 56' E
Picture
copyright Paul Ward |
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