Prop Blade ID

[PITT24423]

Purchased this prop blade at an auction last week ,the seller informed me that his father retrieved it at the end or just after the war from one of their fields about 1 mile south of RAF Stradishall in Suffolk .Now trying to id it as it looks as if every bomber in use flew out of Stradishall at one time or another I am not sure but whether its off a Wellington or not as I came across a report of a Wellington crashing on take off on 6th Jan 42 unfortunately killing all on board .

[Surveyor]

Looking at the size I don't think the diameter is large enough, maybe a fighter? Not sure but it looks as though you could alter the pitch of the blade as well

[PITT24423]

Looking at the size I don't think the diameter is large enough, maybe a fighter? Not sure but it looks as though you could alter the pitch of the blade as well

 

You could be right as in reality I know very little on the subject so you could tell me anything and I`d digest it all.

On the edge of the ally nearest the hub is an alphabetic scale engraved not shown on any of the photos .I don`t know if it was a manual preset setting or if it was adjustable in flight and the scale was a datum to check all blades were equal when initially fitting.

Dimension wise its 5`6" o/a and the hub neck is 5"dia and surprisingly heavy.When I cleaned off the clay /accumulated grunge there was traces of green paint and a faint trace of what looked like yellow paint on the tip.

[Surveyor]

I have Private Pilots Licences and had to learn about engines, also used to make Airfix model planes one of which was a wellington, I have seen and been in Barnes Wallis original office who originally designed the beast.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Wellington

Sorry I can not give more help hopefully some one else can.

A thought have you tried Duxford?

[Richard Farrant]

Purchased this prop blade at an auction last week ,the seller informed me that his father retrieved it at the end or just after the war from one of their fields about 1 mile south of RAF Stradishall in Suffolk .Now trying to id it as it looks as if every bomber in use flew out of Stradishall at one time or another I am not sure but whether its off a Wellington or not as I came across a report of a Wellington crashing on take off on 6th Jan 42 unfortunately killing all on board .

 

You should post these photos on the Flypast Historic forum :

http://forum.keypublishing.com/forumdisplay.php?4-Historic-Aviation

 

With the numbers visible on the prop, I am certain someone will know what it is off and knowing the location may well tell you about the actual aircraft. I am always impressed on the depth of aircraft knowledge on that forum.

 

regards, Richard

[lowfat]

looks like a Harvard blade to me...or a corsair

Edited April 27, 2017 by lowfat

[PITT24423]

looks like a Harvard blade to me...or a corsair

 

Thanks for the info .Checked out Corsair don`t think so as mine is 66 inches and what I can find is that a Corsair is 4o".But what I now know is that it is a Hamilton Standard Hydromatic Prop who appear to of fitted them to about everything just need to narrow the search down with the length.

[draganm]

that's actually a pretty unique prop shape, looks more like a schoolmasters discipline paddle than a prop. My first guess was De havilland Mosquito, the late model ones optimized for high altitude using paddle blade prop. However, if we double your radial measurement , it comes out to 11 foot diameter, the mosquito prop is 12'6" diameter, the 18" left-over is too small to fit the large diameter spinner hub on the mosquito .

 

Here's a list of all crashes at Stradishall, but unfortunately they do not list all the aircraft involved. Lots of Sterlings and Wellingtons and your prop does not look anything like those

 

http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Suffolk/StradishallRAF.html

 

you did say it was recovered south of the Stradishall, if it's from one of the satellite airfields, Chedburgh and Wratting Common, then it could be P47 too . One crashed at Wratting and the second Gen. P47's came with Hamilton's @ 13 foot diameter. This would add up, 11 feet for the opposing blades and 2 feet left for the rather small hub common on air-cooled engines.