There's a whole history of Transatlantic prop-aircraft flights, which got going a year or so after WW2, and disappeared very rapidly when a relatively few jets swept all before them from 1959 onwards, so there were about 14 years when they were dominant.
Crews actually operated from Europe to the USA in one go and made whatever fuel stops the conditions of the day required, using a range of potential points of which Shannon and Gander are only the best known. As aircraft performance improved reliable nonstops started to become more common, firstly eastbound when the DC7 came along, and then westbound when the improved DC7C and Lockheed Starliner were introduced. These had a heyday measured in months before the jets took over (the very first of these often had to stop as well, though within a year proper intercontinental models took over by 1960-61 with flight times which are the same as today).
Because of the slower speed and stops, westbound flights were typically overnight, as well as eastbound, and thus you needed twice the number of aircraft for a daily service as when the jets came along. In fact, when you returned to base in the morning there very often were too many snags to attend to before the afternoon departure, so you might need three times as many aircraft.
At first flights were (theoretically) first class only, later in the 1950s economy came along, and this was done initially with separate aircraft for each class - often the latest type was on the premium service, with the previous type demoted to the economy service. In time mixed-class aircraft gradually took over. Some carriers also had sleeper beds, which were stowed in the day up against the cabin roof.
If you have never travelled in a 4-engined piston airliner the vibration and noise was something else, and with it often taking 16 hours for the trip passengers might take days to get over it, particularly if they had the misfortune to be seated abeam the propellers. Crews on the aircraft of the period often started to suffer from hearing problems in later years.
Last edited by WHBM; 19th Jan 2012 at 13:37.
Reason: Typo - for WW1 read WW2