Why the end of rear engine-mounted planes?
Obviously a question that has arisen out of the Spanair tragedy, but I was pondering the reason for the disappearance of tail / rear fuselage mounted engines, and the move towards an almost exclusively wing mounted engines on newer planes?
But what was the reason for this shift?
Was it safety? Or due to better fuel consumption? Or more simply the ending of McDonnell-Douglas designed planes by Boeing? I saw a (newspaper) comment that rear-mounted engines 'push' the plane when taking off, whilst wing mounted engines 'pull' them into the air so I presume there are big fundamental differences. Have their ever been differing and competing 'camps' of airplane design that fundamentally favoured one design over the other?
I'm presuming it's a simple answer, but i'm unsure! Ta for your time!