The first Viscount in 1953

The first Viscount in 1953

This was first run in 1945, and after prolonged development and power-growth entered airline service with the outstanding Viscount in 1953. It is an extraordinary fact that in 1980 not only are hundreds of Dart-powered aircraft still in service but engines almost indistinguishable from the 1953 model are in large-scale production, and selling briskly to new as well as to existing customers.

But that does not mean technical development is dormant.

Today competition in the turboprop market is intense.

Rocketing oil prices have thrust propellers back into favour with the airlines; their doldrums in the 1960s and 1970s were due entirely to fashion, which thought the jet easier to sell to the traveling public.

Today most large airline constructors have studies for turboprops, including large long-haul passenger and freight aircraft for a market where the jet today has more than 99%.

Back in the 1960s airlines were often embarrassed at· turboprop equipment and tried by various means to convey the impression they operated jets. Today the picture has changed. In 1979-80 the number of completely new jet airliners launched was zero; the number of completely new turboprops four.