Can someone tell me what a “dirigible” is?
aviophage may be correct about the French roots of dirigible, but in English usage dirigible refers to an airship with a framework, as opposed to blimps, which rely on gas pressure to maintain shape, and were develop later. Both types can be steered, but the term is mainly associated with rigid airships. Since it has a metal frame work to maintain it’s shape and carry loads, a dirigible can be much bigger that a blimp – today’s blimps may look big, but they are a fraction of the size of dirigibles like the Macon or the Graef Zeppelin. The German company Zeppelin was the most famous of the airship manufacturers, but not all rigid airships are Zeppelins.
