What's the difference between a blimp and a zeppelin?

Search: blimp zeppelin

Why: Corbett took Leigh on a blimp ride for his b-day. Nbd.

What makes a blimp not a zeppelin? The shape? The material? Are zeppelins even a thing anymore?

Answer: For starters, both blimps and zeppelins are dirigibles.

A dirigible is any lighter-than-air craft that is both powered and steerable (as opposed to free floating, like a balloon). Blimps, rigid airships, and semi-rigid airships are all dirigibles.

The name comes from the French verb diriger, "to steer."

A rigid airship has a rigid framework that maintains its shape. It also has one or more gas cells.

The USS Shenandoah

A zeppelin is a rigid airship made by a specific company, the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin ("Zeppelin Airship Construction Company") of Germany. The guy who started that company was one Mr. von Zeppelin (actually a Count).

A blimp - technically a "pressure airship" - has no rigid inner structure. Its shape is maintained by the pressure of the gases within its envelope. If it deflates, it loses shape.

Turns out: the thing Corbett and Leigh rode in was actually a zeppelin.

Source: Airships.net
The More You Know: The LZ-129 Hindenburg was a zeppelin (LZ = Luftschiff Zeppelin). At more than 800 feet long, it remains one of the largest objects to ever fly (even bigger than a pterosaur).

From its completion in March 1936 until its fiery disaster in May 1937, the Hindenburg provided the fastest and most comfortable way to fly across the Atlantic. In 1936, it made 17 round trips from the hangar in aviation town Friedrichshafen in Southern Germany over the Atlantic - 10 times to the US and 7 to Brazil. The flight to New York was something like 62 hours long. From New Jersey to Frankfurt, the Hindenburg's best time was 43 hours and 2 minutes.

According to passenger / reporter Webb Miller, passenger accommodations were enclosed in about 4,500 square feet. There 25 two-bed one-sink cabins, a promenade flanked by windows, a salon with writing desks and a piano, and a dining room. Below deck were shower / baths, toilets, kitchens, a smoking room, and a bar.

Tickets were $400 (~$5000 today). People were classy.

Nazis notwithstanding, it sounded very nice.