History of the first 30 years of commercial aviation

History of the first 30 years of commercial aviation

For the first 30 years of commercial aviation, from 1920 to 1950, all airliners had propellers. Over the next ten years, to 1960,jet airliners slowly and hesitantly penetrated the extremely conservative and ultra-cautious airline industry. But by 1960 the airlines had become so polarized around the jet that efficient and successful turboprop airliners, such as the Electra and Vanguard, lost their builders a lot of money because the customers thought them obsolete.

Then, again very gradually, airline managements began to realize that those who said turboprops were efficient and burned less fuel were telling the truth. As oil prices soared, so the propeller began to make a come-back.

Therefore, though mainly an account of past history, this volume ends with a buoyant industry that cannot build turboprop airliners fast enough.