eli5 Why weren’t airships built to be more aerodynamic or have bigger wings

Question

I get that the airship was already on its way out by the time airliners became viable for transatlantic travel, but considering that airships were more fuel efficient, and airplanes were very fast, was it just a mater of no one thinking of it, or was there a problem with this concept that made such a design inefficient

In: 0

Answer 1

Airships didn’t really lose out because they were slow or anything. It was because

A. Enough went kablooey that it made the public nervous and

B.They’re not efficient weapons of war. WW2 rolled around and no one could be bothered to maintain the industry.