First Trip to the North Pole

Date: May 12, 1926 • Location: North Pole, International

The crew of the airship Norge (pictured), led by Roald Amundsen, became the first people to make a verified trip to the North Pole.

Norge was an Italian-built, semi-rigid airship that carried out the first verified trip of any kind to the North Pole, an overflight on 11-14 May 1926; Norge was also the first aircraft to fly over the polar ice cap between Europe and America. The expedition was conceived by polar explorer and expedition leader Roald Amundsen, the airship's designer and pilot Umberto Nobile, and the wealthy American adventurer and explorer Lincoln Ellsworth who, along with the Norsk Luftseiladsforening, financed the trip which was known as the Amundsen–Ellsworth 1926 Transpolar Flight.