![Renato Alessandrini](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Renato_Alessandrini.jpg)
Renato Alessandrini (August 11, 1890 - May 25 1928) was an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
explorer who perished during the
polar
Polar may refer to:
Geography
Polar may refer to:
* Geographical pole, either of two fixed points on the surface of a rotating body or planet, at 90 degrees from the equator, based on the axis around which a body rotates
* Polar climate, the c ...
expedition of the
airship
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
''
Italia
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the Italy (geographical region) ...
''.
Biographical notes
Alessandrini was born in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. From 1914 he worked as rigger at the Stabilimento Costruzioni Aeronautiche, an aircraft factory of the Italian Army Engineers in Rome. Then, after the
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he worked at the airport of
Ciampino where Italian military
airships
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
were assembled and equipped.
North Pole
Alessandrini participated as rigger and helmsman to the first two historic airship flights to the
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...
, being part of the crew of the ("Amundsen–Ellsworth–Nobile Transpolar Flight") which was the first airship to fly over the North Pole on May 12, 1926 and the first aircraft to fly over the polar ice cap between Europe and America, and also of the , which made three flights over unexplored arctic regions and flew over the pole on May 24, 1928.
The date of the death of Alessandrini is not known with certainty; he was lost on May 25, 1928, when the ''Italia'' crashed in the
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...
during its flight back from the North Pole.
[Bendrick G. A., & Alessandrini S. (2019). No second-in-command: human fatigue and the crash of the airship Italia revisited. Polar Research, 38. https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v38.3467]
Honors
Italian Honors
In 1924 Alessandrini had a formal commendation and was decorated with the Silver Medal of the Aero Club of Italy for having, on 18 April 1924, returned the aircraft N-1 to landing after that a gust of wind had torn it from the mooring at Ciampino and dragged it away.
Norwegian Honors
On October 7, 1926, the King of
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
Haakon VII
Haakon VII (; born Prince Carl of Denmark; 3 August 187221 September 1957) was the King of Norway from November 1905 until his death in September 1957.
Originally a Danish prince, he was born in Copenhagen as the son of the future Frederick ...
granted to Alessandrini the Cross of Knight of the
Order of St. Olav, as a participant in the expedition of the airship ''Norge''.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alessandrini, Renato
1890 births
1928 deaths
Italian polar explorers
Order of Saint Olav