A reader wrote to point out that 60 years ago "the Mustang and other fighter planes could reach or exceed 450 mph," and yet today he "cannot think of a single piston plane that can reach 300 mph." "In the past," he wrote, "you have said piston engines get better gas mileage than turbine; and propeller planes get better mileage than jets. And yet today all high speed planes are jets (Piaggio Avanti excepted)... What is the technical defect offsetting fuel gains?"
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