# Dirigible to Airship to Blimp? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2000, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150 "2000-04-14T16:26:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dwtno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@dwtno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwtno)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/21 "2000-04-15T14:34:00Z")
First, the Zeppelin folks are definitely at it again. Check out these sites for info on the Zeppelin-NT (New Technology). My friend is an airship nut and visited the factory and nearby museum a few years ago. The NT wasn’t flying at that time but it is now. [http://www.zeppelin-nt.com/](http://www.zeppelin-nt.com/) [http://spot.colorado.edu/~dziadeck/zf/htmls/nt.htm](http://spot.colorado.edu/~dziadeck/zf/htmls/nt.htm) And secondly, it was my understanding that the Hindenburg was designed for helium but wound up using hydrogen because the world’s major source of helium (i.e., the U.S.) refused to sell to Germany. The lifting difference between the two gases is not all that great… > [@](#): > > 1,000 cubic feet of hydrogen at 32 degrees [fahrenheit] temperture, at sea level, will lift 75.1 pounds while the same volume of helium will lift 69.6 pounds. … so perhaps the Hindenburg was sufficiently over-engineered that it didn’t matter. Or maybe they simply redesigned the craft to take the slightly lesser lifing capability into account. I also have a vauge recolection that the Hindenburg was to be the first helium-powered German airship. Then again, search though I might, I can find no proof or even a reference to any of my Hindenburg claims. Can anyone support me or at least help me stop spreading lies? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2000, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/22 "2000-04-23T15:06:00Z")
According to AOPA’s _Pilot_ magazine (November, 1999, pg. 171): > [@](#): > > During World War I, Lt. A.D. Cunningham of the Royal Navy Air Service commanded the air station at Capel, England. While walking along His Majesty’s (nonrigid) Airship SS-12, he flipped his thumb playfully at the taut fabric “gasbag” and verbalized the odd sound this made: “blimp”. * * * “I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry Are you a turtle? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/23 "2000-04-24T05:04:00Z")
[hijack]What’s the difference between the Hindenberg and Rush Limbaugh? One is a Nazi blimp and the other blew up in the '30s.[/hijack] Sorry. Couldn’t resist. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2000, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/24 "2000-04-23T18:18:00Z")
tomndebb–did the OED list a date for “blimp”? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/25 "2000-04-24T05:09:00Z")
The very first citation is 1916. > [@](#): > > **1916** ROSHER _In R.N.A.S._ 11 Feb. 146 “Visited the Blimps…this afternoon at Capel” > **1918** _Illustrated London News_ 27 July 96 "Nobody in the R.N.A.S. ever called them anything but ‘Blimps’, an onomatopoeic name invented by that genius for apposite nomenclature, the late Horace Shortt. I have found no information on either Rosher or Shortt. * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![egkelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/db5fbb/32.png) [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/26 "2000-04-24T14:44:00Z")
That odd-looking ball on top of the EMPIRE STATE BUILDING (NYC)-I understand that is a blimp docking fixture. Ist it still functional? Any chance that someday passengers will debark from blimps at the ESB? ---
**Author:** ![Kyberneticist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kyberneticist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyberneticist)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/27 "2000-04-24T15:15:00Z")
Not likely, apparently were winds too high at the top of the Empire State Building. ---
**Author:** ![Kyberneticist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kyberneticist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyberneticist)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/28 "2000-04-24T15:16:00Z")
Hm. Apparently I am indeed dyslexic. “winds were” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/29 "2000-04-24T19:53:00Z")
BTW, at the top of that “thing” atop the ESB (just below the antenna), you can see the things (if you have a detailed photo) that I think were supposed to be the “hooks” that would moor the blimps. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Zambezi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Mr.Zambezi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Zambezi)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2000, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/30 "2000-04-24T22:05:00Z")
“It is not a bleeding balloon! IT is a Zeppelin! Now get out!” ahh h h h The prime Minister is in our drawing room, dear. ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/31 "2000-04-25T16:56:00Z")
Have there ever been any hot-air dirigibles? I was wondering what the engineering problems would be with this … tons of flames underneath a bunch of air cells … insufficient lift…? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/32 "2000-04-26T01:20:00Z")
I had actually heard that the hydrogen wasn’t the problem with the Hindenburg, that it was mostly the tar-coated envelope that burned (not exploded). Comments? * * * “There are only two things that are infinite: The Universe, and human stupidity-- and I’m not sure about the Universe” –A. Einstein ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/33 "2000-04-26T03:25:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Have there ever been any hot-air dirigibles? Yes, there are [Hot-Air Airships](http://www.hotairship.com/hotship/index.html). It says that their “main uses are in sportive competition, advertising, and environmental work.” I remember seeing footage (either Discovery Channel or some Imax/Omnimax show) where these “Hot Airships” were used very successfully for rain forest research. It apperas that their greatest advantage is ease of use, but are not very efficient. As for the “helium didn’t cause the Hindenburg accident” theory, check out the [article on the UCLA homepage](http://engineer.ea.ucla.edu/releases/blimp.htm). The researcher who wrote the paper works on hydrogen fuel-cells so he may be biased, but it sounds very convincing. There was a more extensive article in Air & Space Smithsonian a couple of years ago (around summer '97?), and probably many other sources. ---
**Author:** ![Robbespiere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/47e85d/32.png) [@Robbespiere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robbespiere)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/34 "2000-04-26T13:39:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Chronos: > \*\*I had actually heard that the hydrogen wasn’t the problem with the Hindenburg, that it was mostly the tar-coated envelope that burned (not exploded). Comments? > > \*\* Yes, I read an article a few years ago on this subject. It seems that some credible investigator determined that the coating was extremely flammable. I believe it was some nitrate compound, not tar. Also, why did the US have a monopoly on helium. Are all the helium mines located in the US? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/35 "2000-04-26T14:06:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Are all the helium mines located in the US? Nothing informative to add; I’m just paralyzed by the image of dust-covered, rugged miners with high, squeaky voices. * * * JMCJ “Y’know, I would invite y’all to go feltch a dead goat, but that would be abuse of a perfectly good dead goat and an insult to all those who engage in that practice for fun.” -weirddave, set to maximum flame ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/36 "2000-04-26T15:50:00Z")
Yes, I think nearly all the world’s helium veins are in the U.S. Texas, I think. And I even vaguely remember some geological principle which explains why so much oil, natural gas, and helium would all be located in the same place. Not really fair, is it? But the South Africans have most of the diamonds, so us poor Yanqs need something. “Hot airships”! I’m intrigued. I’ll look into it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2000, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150/37 "2000-04-27T01:37:00Z")
From that article that scr4 linked: > [@](#): > > Furthermore, the substance used to coat the cotton skin — a process known as doping" which makes the fabric taut and more durable — was extremely flammable. A combination of iron oxide, cellulose acetate and aluminum powder, Holy Heck, they coated the thing with _thermite_??? * * * “There are only two things that are infinite: The Universe, and human stupidity-- and I’m not sure about the Universe” –A. Einstein [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dirigible-to-airship-to-blimp/11150.md?page=1)