"tony" wrote in message

I'm ignorate of the technology, but seem to remember the airlines went to
jets
because fuel costs were lower and they were lest costly to keep running.


'Tis true that kerosene was substantially cheaper than very high octane
gasoline (typically 140+, iirc) then, but the main reasons were 1) maint
cost -- those high powered turbo-supercharged radials on the Connies and
DC-7s were tweaked to within an inch of their lives, and would fail
regularly. (My brother-in-law's father worked for AA in BOS in that era,
and the standing joke was that they put four engines on those things so they
could arrive with at least two or three); and 2) cruise speed/payload -- the
transition to jet transports allowed schedulers to carry many more
passengers at about 50% more speed. The implications of this change on
system capacity and operation, particularly trans-continental and
trans-oceanic flights, were astounding and very far reaching.