Declared purposes of the flight were 1) to set a distance record; 2) to confirm the feasibility of regular transpolar flyingi.
General Umberto Nobile, famed Fascist transpolar flyer: "Major Pomarici, one of my most distinguished colleagues in the transpolar flight preparations, went to sleep, last week .
It seems doubtful that even such sturdy characters as Shackleton and his crew could have made a transpolar crossing.