GIGANTIC AIRSHIP.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5426, 20 May 1929, Page 2

GIGANTIC AIRSHIP.

ANOTHER OCEAN FLIGHT. THE MEANING OF ZEPPELIN. The German airship Graf Zeppelin, which is at the moment on her second flight across the Atlantic ■to the United States , of America, had amongst her passengers on the first voyage Count Brandenstein Zeppelin. Perhaps some people wondered how this man happened to bear the same name as the dirigible, and whether a zeppelin is a dirigible or not. Count Brandenstein-Zeppelin is the son-in-law of Ferdinand, Count von Zeppelin (1838-1917), after whom this particular type of dirigible is named. For a zeppelin is “a dirigible balloon of the rigid type, consisting of a cylindrical, trussed and covered frame supported by internal gas ceils, and provided with means of propulsion and control.” Because the first dirigible of this type to make a successful flight was constructed (about 1899-1900) by Count von Zeppelin, the airship was named after him. To use the name dirigible alone as the name for an airship is a modem shortening of the older “dirigible balloon.” Foi - the word dirigible means simply that which “can be directed,” that which is steerable. The word comes from the Latin “dirigens,” and from the verb meaning to direct; dirigible and direct, as words, are of similar origin. A dirigibles is thus merely a balloon that can be controlled or steered. Note also that in the pronunciation of this word the accent is on the first syllable, dir-.