airship

thumb|A modern airship, Zeppelin NT D-LZZF in 2010 thumb|The LZ 129 Hindenburg|LZ 129 Hindenburg was the largest airship ever built and was destroyed in 1937. thumb|120px|upright|Dirigible airships compared with related aerostats, from the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1890–1907 An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air to achieve the lift needed to stay airborne.

AI overview

An airship is a lighter-than-air aircraft that can steer and fly under its own power by using a gas less dense than air for lift. Airships have historical significance as early aircraft, most notably exemplified by the Hindenburg, the largest airship ever built before its destruction in 1937.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

In the Vinony graph

Vinony's link graph records 1,629 inbound references to airship, and connects out to hydrogen, helicopter and lift.

It is catalogued under topics including Aeronautics, Airships and Commons link from Wikidata.

Vinony links it to 85 Wikipedia language editions.

Wikidata facts

Image: Zeppellin NT amk.JPG

Show 5 more facts

Commons gallery: Airship
Commons category: Airships
exact match: wordnet-rdf.princeton.edu/wn30/02692877-n
time of discovery or invention: 1852-00-00
military designation: ZR

Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

~80 min read

Encyclopedic overview

56 sections

Contents

Terminology
Airship
Aerostat
Blimp
Zeppelin
Hybrid airship
Classification
Rigid
Semi-rigid
Non-rigid
Construction
Envelope
Ballonet
Lifting gas
Gondola
Propulsion and control
Fins and rudders
Empennage
Fuel and power systems
Navigation and communication equipment
Landing gear
Performance
Efficiency
History
Early pioneers
17th–18th century
19th century
Early 20th century
World War I
The interwar period
World War II
Postwar period
Postwar projects
Modern airships
Military
Passenger transport
Exploration
Thermal
Unmanned remote
Adventures
Current design projects
Heavy lifting and buoyancy compensation
Metal-clad airships
Hybrid airships
Airships in space exploration
Cruiser feeder transport airship
Airships for humanitarian and cargo transport
Comparison with heavier-than-air aircraft
Safety
Licensing
See also
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
External links

In early dirigibles, the lifting gas used was hydrogen, due to its high lifting capacity and ready availability, but the inherent flammability led to several fatal accidents that rendered hydrogen airships obsolete. The alternative lifting gas, helium, is not flammable, but is rare and relatively expensive. Significant amounts were first discovered in the United States and for a while helium was only available for airship usage in North America. Most airships built since the 1960s have used helium, though some have used hot air.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “airship” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.