Flying Boat Propeller?

[flyinawa]

According to family lore, this prop came from a Curtis Flying Boat although in a family of non-pilots, nobody else knows what that is. Lots of stories about an aquisition from the US government by a non-pilot great-grandfather who just sort of skimmed it along the waters of Lake Erie. Supposedly, it was moored during a large storm and destroyed.

Here's what I DO know.
8' total lenth
4" Thick at hub
11.5" Max blade chord

Hub has an 8 hole mount and is 2.75" diameter.

Markings are as follows based on "clock position" around hub.

12 O'clock - LH (left hand rotation, got that)
4 O'clock - OXX-6 (The motor it was hung on)
6 O'clock - SE274
10 O'clock - The letters U and S hugging an anchor (US Navy) with the numbers 33 above it.

Anyone have any thoughts? I have a bunch of digital pictures, many taken with a tape measure in the picture to give scale that I can email if that helps.

Thanks in advance~
Lance

[dbahnvt]

It's about the right size, and a left hand rotation with an OXX6 means it was probably a pusher, which would also suggest a Curtiss flying boat. The SE274 is probably the drawing number and the key to its true usage, but unfortunately I don't have any reference to that specific number. The Navy had thousands of props that they disposed of as surplus in the early twenties, and this may have been one of them.

Pictures would certainly help. If you email them to me I can add them to your post.