My Bullet Damaged Camel Prop?

[VISCOUNT]

New member here! And what a very informative site it is.

I own a Camel propeller which appears to have been repaired as a result of a bullet strike.

If it is a bullet strike,it appears to have entered towards the pilot from the front. Possibly an enemy strike rather than a malfunction of the interrupter gear for the machine guns?

The entry hole appears to have caused a small amount of damage. The area of repair is about 1 cm x 2 cm.

The exit hole appears to have caused more damage. The area of repair is about 12.5 cm x 4.5 cm.

I intend to have this area x-rayed in the near future for metal fragments.

I have established from the hub markings some details such as Le Clerget and engine size, but the translation of the rest would be very helpful.

I'd be interested in your opinions.

Best Regards,
Bob.

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More Pictures

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More Pictures Including Damage.

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Final Picture.

[Bob Gardner]

Hi Bob.

AD644 indicates a design built to a design of the Air Dept of the Admiralty. Once the RFC and RNAS merged to form the RAF, the Admiralty design appears to have been used on all further Camels built. Your's has an Army (ie RFC) finish, not a naval finish.

The Diameter and Pitch were 2590mm and 2650mm.

Is there a G and an N number? Or some small AID numbers?

With kind regards,

Bob

[VISCOUNT]

Hi Bob,

Many thanks for the reply. I've a few more photos to add as regards the markings.

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One more photo

[Bob Gardner]

Thanks Bob,

The AID marks are airworthiness marks of the Aeroplane Inspection Department. Very few are readable and therefore I haven't found many to record. Yours are beautifully impressed and new to my list so I can't tell anything from them. Some reveal the prop maker and other sorts of props made by him.

With kind regards,

Bob

[Dave]

I wonder what the sequence of events was, blade removal then bullet hole repair or vice versa. I think in general the bullet hole would have rendered it unairworthy, but then you have to wonder why it would be repaired and how it lost its other blade.

It might have been removed, collected as a souvenir then cut in half to transport and subsequently have the hole filled. Here's one from a DH4 that caught a bullet but remained intact as a souvenir.

[VISCOUNT]

I wonder what the sequence of events was, blade removal then bullet hole repair or vice versa. I think in general the bullet hole would have rendered it unairworthy, but then you have to wonder why it would be repaired and how it lost its other blade.

It might have been removed, collected as a souvenir then cut in half to transport and subsequently have the hole filled. Here's one from a DH4 that caught a bullet but remained intact as a souvenir.

Intresting that the exit hole has the same shaped repair as on my prop.

X-Ray tomorrow may reveal all.

Best Regards,
Bob.

[Dave]

At most I think the Xray might show a few flecks of lead, but I'm not sure that tells you more than you already know.

[Bob Gardner]

With reference to the similarity of repairs on different props, the repair of British props in the field was tightly controlled by the authorities. In 1918 the instructions were re-issued by the newly formed RAF as Air Publication 3082 (AP3082).

Bob

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The day of reckoning!

X-Rays performed today. The operator told me that the light coloured object shown on the plates within the prop and between the repairs on either side is made of metal.

Can we assume from the shape that it is a bullet? I have no intention of removing the repair to check!

Was it left there as it may have been too difficult to extract and possibly would have caused more damage in the extraction? Contrary to Hollywood legend,surgeons don't always remove a bullet from injured humans for that same reason.

But would leaving the bullet in place have upset it's balance?

Would a damaged prop have been brought back to England? Is this prop possibly from a Home Defence Squadron engaged in combat with Gotha bombers?

Please see the X-Ray pics attached. The photos were not taken in ideal circumstances. I held the plates to the window!

Regards,
Bob.

[Bob Gardner]

Bob,

A possible hypothesis is that the bullet flattened on impact and only a remnant made the exit wound. Conceivably, it might also be a piece of spinning shrapnel, as it doesn't look particularly ballistic in shape.

As the spent round, or whatever it is, is lodged within the blade, the prop would be substantially out of balance which would have given a very evident vibration.

So a possible train of events is that a single, almost spent, round struck the blade, caused no structural damage, and by a fluke produced both an entry and exit wound, which a fitter interpreted as meaning that the round had passed through the blade. He repaired the hole in the approved manner, only to discover that the prop vibrated when run on test, so it was condemned and removed, whereupon the pilot kept the blade as a souvenir.

Unfortunately, hypotheses is as far as one can ever get!

With kind regards,

Bob

[VISCOUNT]

Bob, that's a good hypothesis. Many thanks to both of you for your help.

Best Regards,
Bob.