Italian Norge built under the direction of Umberto Nobile at the State Airship Factory at Rome.
From Jane's all the World's Aircraft
During 1923, the State Airship Factory at Rome, under the direction of Ing. Umberto Nobile, has continued the development of the semi-rigid type of airship. Actual completion seems to have been confined to the type N.1, hereafter described. Designs for much larger ships are, however, in readiness for the time when construction becomes possible.
The N.1.This airship, which was designed and built at the Italian State Airship Factory at Rome, under the direction of Ing. Umberto Nobile, is a development of the earlier type in which a pin-jointed triangular keel frame is used to relieve the envelope of compression loads, thus making it possible to use smaller gas pressures than would otherwise be necessary.
In N.1 the keel is extended fore and aft to form a rigid nose and tail structure, the tail stiffening serving to carry the As is usual in this type of stabilising and control surfaces. ship, the keel structure is attached to the envelope through a steel cable catenary system, which relieves the envelope fabric of a large proportion of the tensile stresses which it would otherwise have to carry.
The N.I has been equipped as a passenger-carrier, and is fitted with one large combined control and passenger car mounted well forward. There is accommodation for 20 passengers in this car. Three engine nacelles, two side-by-side amidships and one below the keel aft, each carrying one 250 h.p. engine driving a propeller, are suspended from the keel by steel cables.
The main dimensions, etc., of the N.1 are:-
Capacity Max... 19,000 cub. m. (672,000 cub. ft.)
Length... 106 m. (348 ft.).
height... Max.26 m. (85 ft. 4 in.).
width... Max.9.5 m. (64 ft.).
speed... 100 km.h. (62 m.p.h.).
Useful cargo capacity... 8,000 kgs. (8 tons) appr.
Aeroplane Photo Supply No. 948
