Tweet
New to this forum with a prop that has been with me since 1970 and while cleaning it tonight, I took a look around and found you. I can usually be found at another forum restoring vintage televisions and radios. Bob Gardner's other items about Gipsy got me going.
Photos tonight are not happening. Too dark in the house. I can do them later if the public demands. But I do hope you like this find and can add anything you may know.
I got this prop in Rockford, IL, USA in 1970 as a birthday gift from my now ex-wife as a tribute to my early flying days, now long gone. Her dad found it and refinished it (as was the norm then and I am innocent). No decals remaining. It is as beautiful as can be. The wood is perfect and the brass leading edges are all there. No sign of cloth reinforcement. It is five laminate layers deep for a total of 4 1/16".
It was an 8-hole mounting bore and then plugged and re-drilled for six. On one trailing edge is a splice. On the front it looks like a repair. From the back it looks like a splinter left in place. Rather large...about 18" along and 2" deep but the wood is a dead match and looks original. There is a 2" split transverse to one of the original 8 bores on the front and not visible on the back. I don't think I would fly this.
Here are the markings as stamped on either side of the hub (sic);
DI 6'4"
PI 5'1"
OCT 14 1929
SERIAL NO 2
DRG NO
GIPSY RH
And near the hub on the front is another 02.
Clearly a prop for the Gipsy American market as it is RH. Likely the Wright Gipsy L320 and an early one as it is #2. enginehistory.org shows only 46 of the L320's produced during this time.
Rockford, IL, USA was the home of the WWI Camp Grant and now is Greater Rockford Airport outside of Chicago. It always held forth over the years as a great aviation location and was the site of the first EAA conventions before they decamped to Oshkosh, WI. I spent several summers there in high school at RFD as a flag-man parking some glorious aircraft.
Somewhere along the line, I believe this prop was at RFD on some unknown aircraft at the field and was a local find. The 8-to-6 bore may give a clue. Now that I think about it, I got this prop 41 years after it was made and now it is 42 more years later that I ask you about it. Now I know I am old. I look forward to all of your thoughts on this prop in my one listing here including who actually made it.
Dave A
Photos tonight are not happening. Too dark in the house. I can do them later if the public demands. But I do hope you like this find and can add anything you may know.
I got this prop in Rockford, IL, USA in 1970 as a birthday gift from my now ex-wife as a tribute to my early flying days, now long gone. Her dad found it and refinished it (as was the norm then and I am innocent). No decals remaining. It is as beautiful as can be. The wood is perfect and the brass leading edges are all there. No sign of cloth reinforcement. It is five laminate layers deep for a total of 4 1/16".
It was an 8-hole mounting bore and then plugged and re-drilled for six. On one trailing edge is a splice. On the front it looks like a repair. From the back it looks like a splinter left in place. Rather large...about 18" along and 2" deep but the wood is a dead match and looks original. There is a 2" split transverse to one of the original 8 bores on the front and not visible on the back. I don't think I would fly this.
Here are the markings as stamped on either side of the hub (sic);
DI 6'4"
PI 5'1"
OCT 14 1929
SERIAL NO 2
DRG NO
GIPSY RH
And near the hub on the front is another 02.
Clearly a prop for the Gipsy American market as it is RH. Likely the Wright Gipsy L320 and an early one as it is #2. enginehistory.org shows only 46 of the L320's produced during this time.
Rockford, IL, USA was the home of the WWI Camp Grant and now is Greater Rockford Airport outside of Chicago. It always held forth over the years as a great aviation location and was the site of the first EAA conventions before they decamped to Oshkosh, WI. I spent several summers there in high school at RFD as a flag-man parking some glorious aircraft.
Somewhere along the line, I believe this prop was at RFD on some unknown aircraft at the field and was a local find. The 8-to-6 bore may give a clue. Now that I think about it, I got this prop 41 years after it was made and now it is 42 more years later that I ask you about it. Now I know I am old. I look forward to all of your thoughts on this prop in my one listing here including who actually made it.
Dave A