Whats the difference between a dirigible and a blimp?”
According to Wikipedia: An airship or dirigible is a buoyant lighter than air aircraft that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers. The three main types of airship are blimps, semi-rigid airships and rigid airships. Blimps are small airships without internal skeletons. Semi-rigid airships are slightly larger than blimps and have some form of internal support such as a fixed keel. Rigid airships with a full skeleton, such as the massive Zeppelin transoceanic models, are now a thing of the past.
From Wikipedia: An airship or dirigible is a buoyant lighter than air aircraft that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers. The three main types of airship are blimps, semi-rigid airships and rigid airships.
Dirigibles were built with a lightweight frame, covered with canvas that was treated with similar sizing to what was used on cloth covered airplane wings at the time they were in use. The body of the dirigible was then fitted with multiple gasbags. I think the primary consideration was that smaller gasbags were easier to produce, and if one failed, there would be a reserve system in place. the rigid frame also made it easy to mount motors, gondolas, control surface, airplane launchers, and other appliances on the dirigibe. a modern blimp is made completely out of “cloth” the only rigid components are the gondola, motors, and control surfaces. the blimp holds its shape from the pressure of the lifting gas. I am not clear on whether they still have multiple gasbags as part of the internal structure, or not.
Dirigible is any lighter-than-air craft (including blimps) that can be steered. The name “dirigible” is French for “steerable”, unlike those balloons which just go up and ride the winds. A blimp is a balloon, a big bag of gas that can be steered. The name “dirigible” includes not only the structureless blimps, but also balloons with an internal structure like a zeppelin, which has a skeleton. Although a blimp is technically a dirigible, usually one says “blimp” for blimps and “dirigible” refers to one of the structured airships.
