A propliner is a large, propeller-driven

airliner An airliner is a type of airplane for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. The modern and most common variant of the airliner is a long, tube shaped, and jet powered aircraft. The largest ...

. Typically, the term is used for

piston engine A reciprocating engine, more often known as a piston engine, is a heat engine that uses one or more Reciprocating motion, reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a Circular motion, rotating motion. This article ...

airliners that flew before the large scale advent of airliners of the

jet age The Jet Age is a period in the history of aviation defined by the advent of aircraft powered by jet turbine engines and the social and cultural changes fostered by commercial jet travel. Jet airliners were able to fly higher, faster, and farth ...

. With the notable exception of the de Havilland Albatross and Fokker F-10 of the late 1920s to 1930s, which were largely fabricated of wood, propliners generally featured all-metal wings and structural members, totally or partially retractable landing gear, and two, three, or four engines. A few might deviate from these characteristics with fixed landing gear, such as the Albatross, Fokker 110, and

Lockheed Vega The Lockheed Vega is an American five- to seven-seat high-wing monoplane airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation starting in 1927. It became famous for its use by a number of record-breaking pilots who were attracted to its high speed and lo ...

. The first all metal passenger service propliner was the Handley Page Type W in the 1920s. Then the Boeing 247 made its first flight in 1933, with the

Douglas DC-1 The Douglas DC-1 was the first model of the famous American DC (Douglas Commercial) commercial transport aircraft series. Although only one example of the DC-1 was produced, the design was the basis for the DC-2 and DC-3, the latter being one ...

and

Douglas DC-2 The Douglas DC-2 is a retired 14-passenger, twin-engined airliner that was produced by the American company Douglas Aircraft Company starting in 1934. It competed with the Boeing 247. In 1935, Douglas produced a larger version called the DC-3 ...

closely following in response. The most successful is the

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper ...

, which was produced in the thousands, and is still in widespread use; while the Dewoitine D.338 and SNCASE SE.161 Languedoc were developed in France and Germany produced the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor and Junkers Ju 90. In Japan a license-built version of the Douglas DC-3 was developed as the Nakajima L2D and the smaller Mitsubishi MC-20 was locally developed. In the Netherlands

Fokker Fokker (; ) was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer that operated from 1912 to 1996. The company was founded by the Dutch aviator Anthony Fokker and became famous during World War I for its fighter aircraft. During its most successful period in the 19 ...

, previously one of the leading manufacturers of airliners before the Boeing 247 appeared, became the European sales agent for Douglas DC-2s and DC-3s. Most British-built aircraft of the period were less advanced, such as the Avro 642 Eighteen and de Havilland Express; one exception was the

Armstrong Whitworth Ensign The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.27 Ensign was a British four-engine monoplane airliner and the largest airliner built in Britain during the Interwar period.Tapper, 1988, p.237 The British airline Imperial Airways requested tenders for a large mono ...

. Other American-designed propliners included the Douglas DC-4, Douglas DC-5 and

Martin 2-0-2 The Martin 2-0-2 was an airliner introduced in 1947. The twin piston-engined fixed-wing aircraft was designed and built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. Design and development Glenn L. Martin, president of the company, intended that the Model ...

. None of these models featured

cabin pressurization Cabin pressurization is a process in which conditioned air is pumped into the aircraft cabin, cabin of an aircraft or spacecraft in order to create a safe and comfortable environment for humans flying at high altitudes. For aircraft, this air i ...

. With the earlier introduction of the

Boeing 307 Stratoliner The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner (or Strato-Clipper in Pan American Airways, Pan American service, or C-75 in United States Army Air Forces, USAAF service) is an American stressed-skin four-engine low-wing Conventional landing gear, tailwheel mo ...

and the experimental Douglas DC-4E, a second generation of propliners emerged. These technologically more modern aircraft featured cabin pressurization systems allowing greater comfort by allowing aircraft to fly higher and above much of the lower altitude weather, although it was not until the

Lockheed Constellation The Lockheed Constellation ("Connie") is a propeller-driven, four-engined airliner built by Lockheed Corporation starting in 1943. The Constellation series was the first civil airliner family to enter widespread use equipped with a pressurized cab ...

, followed by the

Douglas DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, Douglas reworked it after the war to compete ...

and Douglas DC-7, that this design advance became common. By the 1950s the traveling public were increasingly finding themselves being transported upon long range pressurized propliners such as the

Boeing 377 Stratocruiser The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was a large long-range airliner developed from the C-97 Stratofreighter military transport, itself a derivative of the B-29 Superfortress. The Stratocruiser's first flight was on July 8, 1947. Design features inclu ...

, Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation and Lockheed L-1649 Starliner, or shorter ranged twin engined Martin 4-0-4 and Convair CV-240, CV-340 and CV-440 aircraft. British propliners included the Airspeed Ambassador,

Vickers Viking The Vickers Viking was a British single-engine amphibious aircraft designed for military use shortly after World War I. Later versions of the aircraft were known as the Vickers Vulture and Vickers Vanellus. Design and development Resear ...

and Handley Page Hermes, while the Canadair North Star (a development of the Douglas DC-4) was produced in Canada. The Breguet Deux-Ponts and Hurel-Dubois HD.31 were manufactured in France; and the Soviet Union produced the postwar twin-engined Ilyushin Il-12 and

Ilyushin Il-14 The Ilyushin Il-14 (NATO reporting name: Crate) is a Soviet twin-engine commercial and military personnel and cargo transport aircraft that first flew in 1950 in aviation, 1950, and entered service in 1954. The Il-14 was also manufactured in East ...

, both produced in quantity through the 1950s. Finally, the Swedish SAAB Scandia was produced in small numbers.

External links

Descriptions and photos of U.S-built propliners.Propliner chronology
Airliners {{aviation-stub

See also

External links