dirigible
noun; also adjective

- An airship.

- An airship, especially a zeppelin.

- As an adjective: capable of being steered or directed.

Merriam-Webster, Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary. 

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WORD ORIGIN

The story begins in the 1580s with the adjective dirigible, meaning capable of being directed or controlled. The noun arrived in the late nineteenth century, around 1885.

The underlying Latin verb is dirigere: to straighten, arrange or direct, from the French dirigeable, meaning capable of being guided. 

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THE RUNWAY WAS A HOOK

Imagine returning from a flight and finding that your airport is still flying.

In the 1930s, the US Navy’s USS Macon carried small Curtiss Sparrowhawk aeroplanes inside its enormous hull. These weren’t cargo awaiting delivery. They could leave the airship, fly their missions and return while their carrier remained airborne.

The arrangement replaced a runway with a trapeze. An aeroplane was lowered beneath the airship and released. Returning pilots caught the trapeze with a hook, allowing their aircraft to be brought back inside. The Macon had space for five aeroplanes: a hangar suspended in the sky. 

The cleverest part wasn’t simply the mechanism. It was the relationship between the two kinds of aircraft. The little planes could scout beyond the carrier. The airship could transport them over long distances and provide a place to return. Each supplied something the other lacked.

But the giant carrier also presented a large, vulnerable target. As the Navy developed its approach, the idea shifted: keep the airship in the background and send its aeroplanes towards the enemy. What began as planes extending an airship’s vision became an airship extending the planes’ reach.

Helga & Paul Smith

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SYNONYMS

airship, blimp, DIRIGIBLE, steerable airship

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today. Say something like:

“The pioneers who rode the first DIRIGIBLES must have been incredibly courageous."

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