Great 20th Century Explorers

Russian rescuers inspect the downed Swedish Fokker ski-plane at 'Red Tent' camp where the surviving crew of the ill-fated semi-rigid N-class airship 'Italia' lived during the seven weeks between their crash and their rescue, July 12, 1928. The 'Italia' crashed on drifting pack ice on May 25 during its return from the North Pole. Expedition leader Italian Umberto Nobile was rescued when Swedish pilot Einar Lundborg arrived on June 23 but the remaining five survivors were picked up by a Soviet icebreaker, Krassin, on July 12. Lundborg, who crashed the pictured airplane on his return to the floe, was removed by another Swedish pilot, Schyberg, on July 6. Three survivors attempted to walk to land, two of them survived and were picked up by the Krassin. One crew member died in the initial crash and six were carried away by the gas bag during the accident. The subsequent rescue attempts were the first large-scale international air-sea search-and-rescue operations of their kind in the Arctic region and resulted in the death of Nobile's former partner and rival Roald Amundsen. (Photo by Pictorial Parade/Getty Images)