The Lockheed Constellation was the first to offer trans-Atlantic service after WWII and it was the last of the big turboprop aircraft as it couldn't compete with commercial jets.
Commercial jet service started with the DeHavilland Comet which is another beautiful aircraft. There were two or three events in which Comet aircraft crumpled at cruising altitude and the crash analysts determined ultimately it was metal fatigue. A fix was found to make them safe but confidence was lost and another of the most beautiful aircraft ever was retired.
She is even more elegant than the Constellation but the Comet didn't see service for very long despite being the first commercial passenger jet aircraft.
The better-known aircraft that was introduced a bit later was the Boeing 707 and that's the same one in which Arlo Guthrie was flying over the Pole, bringing in a couple of keys. Where the lines of the Comet have a sensual femininity, the Boeing 707 has a similar elegance but there are parts dangling about and you can make whatever associations you like with that.
It was a QANTAS 707 that flew the family here from Australia, stopping in Fiji and Hawaii for fuel, and it's conceivable this is even the same one as QANTAS is the only airline that never crashed an aircraft.
Update:
Verification that QANTAS has never crashed an aircraft failed. However, in the sum total of fatalities in QANTAS accidents, less than one hundred people have been killed in all its history.
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