The Postcard
A postcard that was produced by A. K.
There are many postcards showing Dutch women and girls on this photostream, and they are almost invariably shown knitting.
Where boys are also present, they are usually shown wearing very baggy trousers and smoking a pipe, which would certainly not be allowed today.
The card was posted in Kentish Town on Tuesday the 11th. May 1926 to:
Miss E. Dellera,
51, Chipstead Street,
Fulham,
London S.W.6.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"11 . 5 . 26.
Dear Edna,
Mummie's letter arrived
yesterday, we were
pleased to hear from
her.
We had a nice time on
Sunday. We will come to
see you as soon as
possible.
Love to all,
Auntie Edie xxx"
An Important Injunction
So what else happened on the day that Auntie Edie posted the card to Edna?
Well, on the 11th. May 1926, Mr. Justice Asbury granted an injunction to the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union to prohibit its Tower Hill branch from calling its members out on strike.
Asbury ruled that the strike was not protected by the Trade Disputes Act of 1906, and that the strike in the plaintiff union had been called in contravention of its own rules.
The ruling came as a heavy blow to the Unions' cause.
The Airship Norge
Also on that day, the airship Norge departed Ny-Ålesund en route to the North Pole.
The Norge was a semi-rigid Italian-built airship that carried out the first verified trip of any kind to the North Pole, an overflight on 12 May 1926. It was also the first aircraft to fly over the polar ice cap between Europe and America.
The expedition was the brainchild of polar explorer and expedition leader Roald Amundsen, the airship's designer, pilot Umberto Nobile, and American adventurer and explorer Lincoln Ellsworth who, along with the Aero Club of Norway, financed the trip, which was known as the Amundsen-Ellsworth 1926 Transpolar Flight.
Design and Development of the Airship
Construction of the semi-rigid Norge commenced in 1923. It was built to cope with Arctic conditions. The pressurised envelope was reinforced with metal frames at the nose and tail, and with a flexible tubular metal keel connecting the two.
This was covered with fabric and used as storage and crew space. Three engine gondolas and a separate control cabin were attached to the bottom of the keel. Norge was the first Italian semi-rigid to be fitted with the cruciform tail fins that were first developed by the Schütte-Lanz company.
The Polar Expedition
On the 29th. March 1926 at a ceremony at Ciampino aerodrome, the Norge was handed over to the Aero Club of Norway. The flight north was due to leave Rome on the 6th. April 1926, but was delayed due to strong winds, and departed at 09:25 on the 10th. April.
The ship arrived at the Pulham Airship Station in England at 15:20, but because of the bad weather was not moored in the hangar until 18:30. Delayed again by weather, the Norge left Pulham for Oslo at 11:45 on the 12th. April.
At 01:00 on the 15th. April 1926, the Norge left Oslo for Gatchina near Leningrad; after a 17-hour flight, the airship arrived at 19:30, delayed by dense fog along the way.
Following the arrival at Gatchina, Nobile announced that the Norge would remain in the airship shed for a week for engine overhaul and maintenance; this included the addition of collapsible rubber boats for emergency use.
Although expected to leave Gatchina as soon as the weather allowed after the 24th. April, the departure was delayed one week because the mooring mast at King's Bay, Spitsbergen had not yet been completed due to adverse weather. Although Nobile was anxious to leave for Spitsbergen even if the mast and shed were not completed as he was concerned about the weather, the departure from Gatchina was postponed once again.
The Norge finally left Gatchina at 09:40 on the 5th. May to proceed to Vadsø in northern Norway, where the airship mast is still standing today. The expedition then crossed the Barents Sea to reach King's Bay at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. There Nobile met Richard Evelyn Byrd preparing his Fokker Trimotor for his North Pole attempt.
Nobile explained that the Norge trip was to observe the uncharted sea between the Pole and Alaska where some believed there was land.
This was to be the last stop before crossing the pole. The dirigible left Ny-Ålesund for the final stretch across the polar ice on the 11th. May 1926 at 09:55.
The Crew of the Norge
The 16-man expedition included Amundsen, the expedition leader and navigator; Umberto Nobile, the dirigible's designer and pilot; Wealthy American outdoorsman, polar explorer and expedition sponsor Lincoln Ellsworth; as well as polar explorer Oscar Wisting who served as helmsman.
The other crew members were 1st Lt. Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, navigator; 1st Lt. Emil Horgen, elevatorman; Capt. Birger Gottwaldt, radio expert, Dr Finn Malmgren of Uppsala University, meteorologist; Fredrik Ramm, journalist; Frithjof Storm-Johnsen, radioman; Flying Lt. Oscar Omdal, flight engineer; Natale Cecioni, chief mechanic; Renato Alessandrini, rigger; Ettore Arduino, Attilio Caratti and Vincenzo Pomella, mechanics.
Nobile's little dog, Titina, also came aboard as mascot.
Arrival at the North Pole
On the 12th. May 1926 at 01:25 (GMT), the Norge reached the North Pole, at which point the Norwegian, American and Italian flags were dropped from the airship onto the ice.
Relations between Amundsen and Nobile, which had been lukewarm at best, were further strained by the freezing and noisy conditions in the dirigible's cramped control car, and became even worse when Amundsen saw that the Italian flag dropped by Nobile was larger than either of the others.
Amundsen later recalled with scorn that:
"Under Nobile, the Norge has
become a circus wagon of the
skies".
Nobile later claimed that Amundsen had greatly exaggerated.
Technical Problems
After crossing the pole, ice encrustations kept growing on the airship's propellers to such an extent that pieces breaking and flying off struck the outer cover, causing rips and tears in the fabric:
"The ice forming on the propellers as we
went through the fog, and hurled against the
underside of the bag, had pretty well scarred
up the fabric covering the keel, though it had
not opened up the gas bags or caused any
hydrogen loss. We had used up all our cement
in repairing the fabric".
On the 14th. May, the Norge reached the Inupiat village of Teller, Alaska, where in view of worsening weather, the decision was made to land rather than continue the 70 miles to Nome in Alaska, which is on the coast of the Bering Sea.
The airship was damaged during the landing, and was dismantled and shipped back to Italy.
The First to The Pole
The three previous claims to have arrived at the North Pole -by Frederick Cook in 1908, Robert Peary in 1909, and Richard E. Byrd in 1926 (just a few days before the Norge) - are all disputed as being either of dubious accuracy or outright fraud.
Some of those disputing these earlier claims therefore consider the crew of the Norge to be the first verified explorers to have reached the North Pole.
Specifications of The Norge
Capacity: Payload 9,500 kg (20,900 lb)
Length: 106 m (347 ft 9 in)
Diameter: 26 m (85 ft 4 in)
Volume: 19,000 m3 (670,000 cu ft) of hydrogen
Powerplant: 3 × Maybach Mb.IV 6-cyl. water-cooled in-line piston engines, 190 kW (260 hp) each
Maximum speed: 115 km/h (71 mph).