In 1926 and 1928 two extraordinary Italian challenges were performed, thanks to two airship, the “Norge” and the “Italia”. The two airships were designed, realized and driven by the Royal Italian Aeronautic Genera Umberto Nobile.

The expedition in 1926 was financial supported by the Italian government and by the American tycoon Lincoln Ellsworth. The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who reached the South Pole in 1911, organized this expedition. On 10^th April, the airship “Norge” took off from Ciampino airport in Rome towards the King Bay, in the Svalbard Islands. After several stops for refuelling and crew changes, the “Norge” reached the North Pole on May 12^th.

In 1928, Umberto Nobile got another attempt with the airship “Italia”. He organized a real scientific expedition with Italian researches and crew. The airship left the aerodrome of Baggio on April 15^th, and it reached the King Bay on May 6^th. The “Italia” crew consisted of 18 men, comprising three researchers, two reporters and Nobile as leader.

The first exploring flight over the Polar Regions ended very soon, due to hostile weather conditions and to technical problems. The second flight lasted three days following a path of about 4000 km over unexplored territories sited to the northeast of the Svalbard Islands. The extreme western boundaries of the North Land were set, the existence of Gillis Land was rejected and several observations on the North-eastern Lands were carried out.

The third flight should explore the northern Greenland, in order to search surfaced lands, and finally to reach the North Pole, where scientific measurements on pack ice had been planned. At the 4.28 of May 23^rd 1928, the airship “Italia” took off and, despite an extreme perturbation, it reached the North Pole at midnight. The crew threw the Pope-given wood Cross, the Italian flag, the Milan banner, some medals, and relics. They could not get off the airship because of a strong wind. At the 2.20, the “Italia” started back to base. Few hours later to have taken the direction to Spitzbergen, the weather conditions suddenly changed. The strong wind shook the airship, causing the ship’s wheel block. At the 10.33 of May 25^th the airship "Italia" crashed into the pack, 100 km far from the Svalbard Islands. After the impact, ten men, including Nobile e Cecioni, both with broken legs, survived on the pack ice. The rest of the crew, Alessandrini, Caratti, Ciocca, Arduino, Pontremoli e Lago remained on the airship envelope without controls. The airship regained altitude, disappearing in the thick fog. The envelope and the crewmembers aboard it have never been found. The impact of the airship released all the on-board instrumentation on the ice.

Nobile and the survivors erected a field tent as shelter. The tent was dyed with red aniline, to improve the visibility. It became famous as the “Red Tent”. The crew repaired the Ondina 33 radio donate by Marconi to Nobile. A Russian ham radio operator accidentally intercepted the S.O.S. signals.

Following the “Italia” shipwreck news, 16 ships, 21 airplanes and 1500 crewmembers participated to the survival researches. Roald Amundsen also participated to these researches. On June 17^th, he took off from Bergen to Tromsö by the seaplane Latham 47 of the French Navy. About two flight-hours later, the Latham crashed on the Bears Island, since a thick fog surprised it. The crew and Amundsen disappeared in the fog and had never been found.

On June 22^nd, Einar-Paal Lundborg, on board of a Swedish airplane, succeeded in landing close to the Red Tent and in recovering General Nobile, despite his determined resistances. The searches finished in July 12^th 1928 with the survivor recovery by the Russian icebreaker "Krassin."

In Ital, a commission of inquiry accused General Nobile of crew abandonment. Nobile was dismissed from every roles. In 1931, the URSS employed Nobile as airship technical advisor. After the Second World War, Nobile returned in Italy. He was restated and elected as deputy of the Italian Parliament.

A new military commission cleared Nobile name giving back his rank and status.

In 1948 taught aerodynamic at University of Naple. For the rest of his life, he had to defend himself from the accusation of those people judging selfish is behaviour in the Red Tent events. Nobile published several books, telling his own side of the story, but this did not convince the public opinion and a certain group of specialists and military.

Umberto Nobile died in Rome on 30 July 1978.