ice encrustations kept growing on the airship's propellers to such an extent that pieces breaking and flying off would strike the outer cover, causing rips and tears in the fabric. On 14 May, the Norge reached the Inupiat village of Teller, Alaska, where in view of worsening weather, the decision was made to land rather than continue the approximately 70 miles to Nome. The airship was reportedly damaged somehow during the landing and was dismantled and shipped back to Italy. The three previous claims to have arrived at the North Pole—by Frederick Cook in 1908, Robert Peary in 1909, and Richard E. Byrd in 1926 (just a few days before the Norge)—are all disputed as being either of dubious accuracy or outright fraud. Some of those disputing these earlier claims therefore consider the crew of the Norge'' to be the first verified explorers to have reached the North Pole. Specifications (Norge) See also Italia (airship) Norge Storage Site Spitsbergen Airship Museum References Footnotes Sources Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth, First Crossing of the Polar Sea, Doubleday, Garden City, 1928. External links 1920s Italian civil utility aircraft 1926 in aviation Airships of Italy Arctic exploration vessels Hydrogen airships Individual aircraft North Pole