1930 Fiat A20 engine propeller

[Massimo]

Hi everybody,
new to this site and happy to learn a lot in reading you.

I'd like to introduce my wooden propeller, and sharing with you some of the information I have on it, while asking if your knowledge could help me in adding some information.

It comes from the Mondovi (Cuneo area, north west of Italy) airport, that was built between 1933 to 1935, and, from 1938 headquarter of the 18° Storm of the Italian Royal Air Force. The airport was occupied by the German Army in 1943 and completely destroyed by them before the end of the Second World War. Never rebuilt, as for today the only remaining are the two pillars that, once, marked the entrance.

The propeller, diameter 2,60 meters (8,53 foot) was built January 20, 1930 to be used on the 12 Cylinder, water cooled, 430 HP, 18.7 liters (1141 CI) Fiat A20 engine, a widely used motors that equipped several airplanes and seaplanes.
A20 was manufactured with 3 different specification:
-A.20 Normal (5.7:1 compression)
-A.20 S High Compression (6:1 compression)
-A.20 AQ. (AQ - Alta Quota - translated high altitude) (8:1 compression)

Here below a full list of airplanes equipped with the A20 engine, in order of importance/quantity from top to down.

-Fiat CR.20 fighter. Several version, including seaplane built 1926-? 1 engine, quantity manufactured 735 units in total

-Macchi M.41 seaplane. Built 1927-1938(?) 1 engine, quantity manufactured 41 (M41 bis) + 1 prototype (M41)

-Piaggio P.6 seaplane. Built 1927-(?) 1 engine, quantity manufactured 15 + 2 prototypes

-Macchi M.71 seaplane. Built 1930-(?) 1 engine, quantity manufactured 12

-SIAI S.58bis seaplane. Built 1923-1929 1 engine, quantity manufactured 5

-CANT 25 seaplane. Built 1927-1931 1 engine, quantity manufactured ?

-Ansaldo AC.4 (derived from 1926 French Dewoitine D12 -never equipped with A20 engine) built 1927, 1 engine, quantity manufactured 1 prototype

-CANT 15 seaplane?. Built 192?, 1 engine, 1 prototype

-SIAI S.67 Seaplane built 1930-1935 1 engine (with a 3 blades propeller), quantity manufactured 3

Marks stamped on the propeller:

Side A:
-A 300 / 6 (A 300 was an Ansaldo airplane, 1919-1929, equipped with Fiat A12 bis V12 engine, 850 units built). Could be A300 variant/evolution 6?
-MOT - A20 FIAT (MOT as for MOTORE, engine in Italian)
-D – 2,60 (D as for DIAMETRO, diameter in Italian)
-P – 0,92 – 1,792 meaning?
-DIS – 26 BIS (DIS could be as for Disegno, blue print in Italian)


Side B:
-G(manufacturer logo?) ? N – 5348 meaning ?
-011894 meaning?
-squared logo
-a stamped letter, impossible to decifrate. F?
-20-1-1930 (most likely date of manufacture, 20 January 1930)

Ciao,
Massimo

[Bob Gardner]

Welcome Massimo,

We have very few Italian members in our wooden propeller forum and you are most welcome. We also wish you a Happy New Year!

And we hope to learn more about Italian wooden propellers from you. We have members who are knowledgeable about wooden propellers from America, France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and from Britain.

If you have photographs of Italian wooden propellers and knowledge of Italian prop makers, please tell us!

With kind regards,

Bob

[Massimo]

Buongiorno Bob,
thank you very much for the kind welcome. Happy new year to you too and all the members.

I'm quite new in the "propeller" area, coming from classic cars and airplanes.

I dreamed of buying a propeller for years, and still regrets the missed opportunity (didn't have the cash in GB pounds with me, the only currency and form of payment accepted by the seller), for a Spitfire propeller blade saw while at an event in Brooklands in 2008.

Since then, I looked for one, but there are very few decent, not transformed in some silly way, for more than 10 years. The few good, usually traded by antiques traders, are crazy expensive and even the one I showed you, come after a fierce bidding fight with another collector.

I'll do my best to get back to the forum with some, hopeful, interesting information on Italian propeller.
Ciao,
Massimo