Wilbur Cross (1918–2019)

Not very good; author William Cross adopts a narrative style with accounts of the actions and words of various German and British personnel during the Zeppelin campaign. While it might involve the reader a little more than a conventional history, Cross doesn’t provide any footnotes; thus there’s no evidence that any of the purported thoughts, actions, or conversations actually took place. For example, was there really a discussion between Peter Strasser and Admiral Scheer about using the L-70 class to cross the Atlantic and bomb America? Cross narrates such a conversation; I’ve never heard of it elsewhere. Similarly, Cross reports crew actions and officer orders in zeppelins that were shot down with no survivors; it makes for gripping narrative, but how does he know?

Zeppelins of World War I reads like a hack job; the bibliography is all secondary sources, there are no illustrations, no diagrams or drawings of airships (despite the fact that the ship layout is often important to the narrative) and no maps (again, despite the fact that the many references to Zeppelin base locations, routes to England, and bombing run paths are hard to follow with only verbal descriptions). Possibly suitable for a pre-teen interested in period history, but otherwise not recommended.… (meer)

In Disaster at the Pole, Wilbur Cross draws on decades of personal research and interviews to narrate the heart-stopping drama of a little-known an airborne expedition to the North Pole in 1926.

General Umberto Nobile, one of the great aeronautical engineers of the 20th century, saw airships as a way of accomplishing great feats of exploration while winning worldwide acclaim for Italy. To this end he designed the Italia, a groundbreaking, cutting edge semi-rigid ship, able to withstand twisting wind shear that proved so deadly to fully-rigid Zeppelin-type dirigibles. Little was understood about the Arctic environment and weather conditions at the time, and any new discoveries at all were certain to earn worldwide acclaim.

Early the morning of May 23, the Italia departed Kings Bay, Norway, for the pole, reaching its destination at 12:24 a.m. May 24. The weather proved too rough to lower the planned scientific expedition, so the airship turned back to base. In the face of the worsening storm, the Italia took a tremendous beating in sub-zero weather. The Italia hit the ice pack hard, tearing the gondola from the airbag. Half the crew was suddenly stranded on the ice, the other half carried away back into the storm, never to be seen again. And thus begins an unbelievable take of rescue and survival in the harshest environment on earth.

Cross paints in vivid detail the almost gleeful abandonment of Nobile to his fate by Rome even as the other nations of the world mobilize desperate rescue missions. With limited provisions, Nobile and his surviving crew set up camp with a single tent and limited provisions, hoping against hope that they will be rescued.

The story is made all the more immediate–and intimate–by Nobile’s own words, as Cross sought out the aging aviator and other survivors to chronicle the ordeal in their own words. For such a little-known episode in the history of flight, it packs a wallop. Cross doesn’t disappoint.… (meer)

A good read, mostly accounts of the Naval Divison's attacks on England. Good discussion of the technical race between the airship builders and the English defenders trying to avoid or find one another. Good biographical data on the German and English airmen who fought the cold, altitude and weather in craft that were basically not strong enough to overcome them. Weak on the role of the Navy's airships in scouting for the German High Seas fleet, and even weaker for the efforts of the German Army airships.… (meer)