In 1911, Roald Amundsen (born 1872, died 1928) became the first person to reach the South Pole. At that time, it was still believed that Robert Peary had conquered the North Pole in 1909. From the outset, there had been doubts about Peary’s claims, and today there is little doubt that he did not reach his destination.
When the airship Norge took off from Ny-Ålesund on Spitsbergen on May 11, 1926, bound for Alaska via the North Pole, the 16-member crew, including Nobile, Amundsen, and Ellsworth, had to assume that the American Richard Byrd had already succeeded in flying over the North Pole in an airplane two days earlier. However, his claim that he and his co-pilot Floyd Bennett had reached and circled the North Pole before landing back on Spitsbergen could never be proven. Therefore, May 12, 1926, when the Norge reached the North Pole after a journey of 16 hours and 40 minutes, is considered the first indisputably confirmed date. The Norge successfully continued its journey and, despite bad weather that made navigation difficult, landed without a ground crew at Teller near Nome, Alaska, almost 70 hours after taking off from Spitsbergen. Immediately after landing, the cover was opened to allow the gas to escape. The ship was dismantled on site.
With a length of 106 meters and a width of 19.5 meters, the airship “Norge” did not reach the dimensions of the German Zeppelin airships. The airship LZ 126 (ZR III), built at the expense of reparations for the USA, was considerably larger and had been in service for two years. The Norge had a volume of 19,000 cubic meters. It was powered by three Maybach engines, each with 180 kW (245 hp), and had a maximum speed of 113 km/h.