THE DIRIGIBLE ANt) POLAR EXPLORATION 



Umberto Nobile 



Aviation, which is bringing about profound innovations in every 

 human activity, has opened a new era in the history of polar explora- 

 tion. 



Nobody can doubt the superiority of aircraft — airplanes or dirigi- 

 bles — as a means of exploring the unknown regions of the earth. We 

 can truly say that aviation has produced a revolution in this field. 

 In a few hours it is possible now to make a journey that in the past 

 required months and years of travel with ships and sledges. From 

 Spitsbergen we reached the north pole in the Norge in sixteen hours, 

 while Nansen in one year and eight months reached only latitude 

 86° 14'; and in only thirty hours we traversed the unexplored area 

 between the pole and Alaska for a distance of 2000 kilometers. 



One radical change that has taken place in the matter of polar 

 exploration is this: experts who know how to travel on the ice are no 

 longer needed, and men who know how to navigate the air take their 

 place. In addition, it is no longer necessary that the scientists of 

 an expedition be men strong enough to support long journeys on the 

 ice and trained in making them. Edison could be a member of an 

 expedition of this kind and read his own instruments himself. 



Certainly there is no field of human activity so well suited as polar 

 exploration to impart a realization of the great contribution that aerial 

 transportation is bound to make to human knowledge: in one year 

 it is possible to reveal what has been sought for centuries. 



Airship Versus Airplane in Polar Exploration 



There is no doubt that aircraft are now the best means of explora- 

 tion: the problem is to decide between the heavier and the lighter- 

 than-air machines. Two cases should be considered: as to whether 

 the aircraft is to be used as a means of exploration while flying, or 

 whether it is only to be used to carry the explorers and their equipment 

 to the place to be explored. 



In the latter case the airplane is preferable because of the lower 

 cost, the greater freedom from dependence on atmospheric conditions, 

 and the greater facility with which both machine and stations can 

 be made ready. At all events the airplane can be used in many cases 

 as a subsidiary means of transportation and exploration. 



But when we speak of a long trip of exploration the lighter-than- 

 air craft is without doubt the best. There is nothing new in the use 



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