A 1940s era Lockheed Constellation cruised at 345 mph, the C102 at 420 mph. The difference on the C102's longest possible route (NYC-Miami) might about 3 hours 15 minutes for the jetliner and 4 hours for the Constellation. Meanwhile the Constellation
1) Can fly up to twice as many passengers.
2) Was almost certainly less expensive to operate.
3) Has over 4x the range.
If you ran an airline, which would you choose? And that's on a long route, on a 500 mile route the difference in flight time would be maybe twenty minutes.
And it was just a couple years from the DC-7, which was a turboprop that flew nearly as fast as the C102, was twice the size and also a massive range. And again cheaper to operate.
If the C102 had a 2,500+ mile range I think it would have a much better opportunity. Flying people from NY to LA at in 6 hours instead of 8 and at a much more comfortable altitude would be a much more significant difference.
1) Can fly up to twice as many passengers. 2) Was almost certainly less expensive to operate. 3) Has over 4x the range.
If you ran an airline, which would you choose? And that's on a long route, on a 500 mile route the difference in flight time would be maybe twenty minutes.
And it was just a couple years from the DC-7, which was a turboprop that flew nearly as fast as the C102, was twice the size and also a massive range. And again cheaper to operate.
If the C102 had a 2,500+ mile range I think it would have a much better opportunity. Flying people from NY to LA at in 6 hours instead of 8 and at a much more comfortable altitude would be a much more significant difference.