Dirigibles, Zeppelins, and Blimps
Airship Ventures: Blimp or Zeppelin? It's a Zeppelin NT semi-rigid airship.
What’s the difference between a zeppelin and a blimp? What is a dirigible? Was the Hindenburg a blimp? And what is that Airship Ventures thing?
The basic types of Lighter-than-Air aircraft are explained.
What is a Blimp?
A blimp (or “pressure airship”) is a powered, steerable, lighter-than-air vehicle whose shape is maintained by the pressure of the gases within its envelope. In other words, if a blimp deflates, it loses its shape.
The author's son excited before a ride in one of The Lightship Group's advertising blimps.
Blimps have played an important role in the armed forces of many countries. For example, United States Navy’s lighter-than-air program made extensive use of blimps from the 1920s through the 1950s, primarily in anti-submarine and reconnaissance roles.
But blimps are perhaps best known for their role as advertising and promotional vehicles. Goodyear began using blimps to advertise their brand in 1925, and The Lightship Group has operated promotional blimps for various companies over the past 20 years.
Recently a personal blimp has been developed, which is inflated with hot air rather than helium.
Was the Hindenburg a blimp?
Zeppelins like the Hindenburg are often called “blimps,” but that is not correct; Hindenburg was a rigid airship which maintained its shape by means of a metal framework, and not from the pressure of the gas within its hull.
The modern Zeppelin NT (one of which is operated by Airship Ventures) is also not a blimp, but rather a semi-rigid airship, since it has a rigid framework which supports its main structural components.
What is a Semi-Rigid Airship?
Semi-rigid airship Norge
A semi-rigid airship, like a blimp, maintains its aerodynamic shape from the pressure of the gases contained within its envelope, but has a partial rigid frame, usually in the form of a keel, which supports and distributes loads and provides structural integrity during maneuvering.
The modern Zeppelin NT, such as the Airship Ventures ship (recently bearing the 23andMe logo) is a semi-rigid airship, as were the Norge (of polar explorer Roald Amundsen), the Italia (of Umberto Nobile), and the Roma.
What is a Rigid Airship?
A rigid airship is a powered, steerable, lighter-than-air vehicle which maintains its shape by means of a rigid framework, or “skeleton,” surrounding one or more individual cells inflated with lifting gas.
USS Shenandoah under construction, showing rigid framework, individual gas cells, and fabric covering
This photograph of the United States Navy airship USS Shenandoah under construction shows its rigid metal framework, a partially inflated gas cell, and the fabric covering applied over the frame to protect the gas cells and provide aerodynamic streamlining.
The Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin were two of the most famous rigid airships — and Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin is considered the father of the rigid airship — but not all rigid airships are “zeppelins.”
What is a Zeppelin?
A zeppelin is a rigid airship manufactured by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin (”Zeppelin Airship Construction Company”) of Germany, which was founded by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. The Hindenburg was perhaps the world’s most famous zeppelin.
The ships built by the Goodyear-Zeppelin joint venture (USS Akron and USS Macon) can also be referred to as zeppelins.
The modern Zeppelin NT is also properly referred to as a zeppelin, since it was created by a direct successor of the Zeppelin Company which built the German warships of World War I and the airships Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin.
German Navy Zeppelin L-13 (LZ-45). Drawing by Norbert Andrup.
Although the term zeppelin came to be associated with any of the German airships that conducting bombing raids over England and other allied countries during World War I, the German military also used ships of very different designs built by the Schutte-Lanz and Parseval companies.
What is a Dirigible?
Poster for the 1931 Frank Capra film "Dirigible"
Although the term dirigible is most frequently associated with large rigid airships, a dirigible is any powered, steerable, lighter-than-air vehicle.
The term dirigible does not come from the word “rigid” but from the French verb “diriger” (to steer) and so a “dirigeable” (or dirigible, in English) is simply any lighter-than-air craft which is able to be steered.
The airships Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin, the Goodyear blimp, the Zeppelin NT, and the early ships of Alberto Santos-Dumont are all dirigibles.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
How long was the German Navy Zeppelin L-13 (LZ-45) and when was it in servies?
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
September 1st, 2009 at 11:48 pm
L-13 was a p-type ship with a length of 163.5m (536′ 5″). Its first flight was July 23, 1915, and the ship was commanded by Heinrich Mathy during a famous bombing raid on England. L-13 was dismantled in April, 1917.
[Reply]
The next big event in LTA circles will be the openning of the Military Museum and Veterans Memorial at NAS Richmond in mid to late 2010. NAS Richmond was the 2nd largest U.S. Navy Blimp base in the U.S. Destroyed by a hurricane and fires in1945. The heart of the site will be the restored original Administration Building
#25 which will be moved alongside the Railroad Museum on the oridinal site of Hangar #2.
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What a wonderful site. I live near Lakehurst, and you will be glad to know that there is still some limited LTA activity there. The small non-rigid MZ-3A has been flying from Lakehurst for a couple of years, not a Top Secret project, but nobody’s talking much about it. In fact, I was earlier today belting down South Dover rd on a Triumph Thruxton, at highly illegal speeds, when she flew over, quite low. I pulled over to watch, as this sight has become a rarity. She’s tiny, even to one too young to have seen the big Rigids, but I remember the “Nan” class ships of the late 50s, which dwarfed her.
Still, she’s an Airship, and I’ll take what I can get.
Best,
DWM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MZ-3A
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