The new 'flying tube' airship. Washington, D.C., Mar. 14. Immediate commercial development of a new lighter-than-air airship of novel design, which its engineering sponsors believe will revolutionize air transportation, bringing safety, speed, load capacity, and easy maneuverability to airship performance, was announced today. Air sucked through the tube will create a vacuum in front and give a propulsive kick at the outlet. Universal joints will be located at the entrance and exit of the tube, moving in any direction of the air intake and outlet, thus steering the flying tube. The ship will be entirely metal clad and the lifting power will be helium gas in aluminum partitions. Garret W. Peck, designer and vice pres. in charge of construction, left; and Clifford C. Jones, specialist with the Inter-Ocean Dirigible Corp., right, with the working model of the ship

The main types of airship are non-rigid, semi-rigid, and rigid. Non-rigid airships, often called "blimps", rely on internal pressure to maintain the shape of the airship. Semi-rigid airships maintain the envelope shape by internal pressure but have a supporting structure. Rigid airships have an outer structural framework which maintains the shape and carries all structural loads, while the lifting gas is contained in internal gas bags or cells. Rigid airships were first flown by Count Zeppelin and the vast majority of rigid airships built were manufactured by the firm he founded. As a result, all rigid airships are sometimes called zeppelins. In early dirigibles, the lifting gas used was hydrogen, due to its high lifting capacity and ready availability. Helium gas has almost the same lifting capacity and is not flammable, unlike hydrogen, but is rare and relatively expensive. Airships were most commonly used before the 1940s, but their use decreased over time as their capabilities were surpassed by those of aeroplanes.