- The Italia expedition -

Loading of airship completed

Summary

The past two weeks have been busy ones as everyone in the Italia crew and many more besides has worked hard to ensure that all is ready for departure.

Airship Italia ready for departure

The past two weeks have been busy ones as everyone in the Italia crew and many more besides has worked hard to ensure that all is ready for departure. Over 3000 kg of fuel are aboard, over 1000 kg of equipment, plus food and supplies to sustain the aviators during a journey that may bring many hazards. Meteorologist Finn Malmgren has his eye on a small depression approaching the Alpine region. But hopefully it will not stop a departure in the early hours of tomorrow morning. The media would like a daytime departure attended by a fanfare of bells and whistles, but the Italia’s commander, Umberto Nobile, prefers to make a quiet departure under cover of darkness.

Related article

Marking Time: New Train Services for 2020

The hidden europe award for ingenuity in creating new European rail travel opportunities is awarded to Austria's state rail operator, Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB). We look at what ÖBB will offer anew for 2020, and examine too what's new on the rails in Russia, Germany and elsewhere across Europe.

Related article

An Essex backwater: Discovering Harwich

The old town of Harwich, a port in the county of Essex on England's North Sea coast, is tucked away on the end of a peninsula. Maritime connections have shaped the development of Harwich. It's a place for sea breezes, rock oysters and watching the ferries come and go.

Related article

Sea fever

When one time English poet laureate John Masefield extolled the lure of the ocean ("I must down to the seas again..."), he clearly didn't have Cunard's luxury Queen Elizabeth II ship or the same company's new super liner Queen Mary in mind.