unidentified wooden propeller

[dhickmanjr]

I was given a wooden propeller that belonged to my uncle. He was in the US Air Force. How he came to own this propeller or where it came from is unknown. I am trying to identify it. Unfortunately, there are no stamps or markings on it other than a faint "2" near the hub. It has eight bolts, which the bolts are square cut and appear quite old. It is 8'6" (102") long, 7" overall wide at the hub, 3" thick at the hub. Shaft opening is about 1.75". The shaft sleeve opening is just under 2.5 inches. Bolt pattern is about 3.5" across. It is squared on the ends and has metal on the leading edges. Unfortunately, someone in the past has attempted to refinish this propeller (quite poorly I might add). I am going to display this in my house....but would like to know more about it so I can answer the questions I am sure to get.

It appears to have 6 laminations of equal thickness.

There are some nicks/dents in the leading edges in the metal (as shown in one of the pictures).

I am new to this forum. I hope I have posted this where I can get some answers. Thanks!

[Dave]

It's going to be very hard, if not impossible, to identify much further without any stamped information.

One thing I wondered about though, is the squared tips. Does it look as if they may have been cut down? Usually sheathing would follow the leading edge and then wrap completely around the tip rather than terminate along the edge. If you look at the tip end on does the thickness vary signficantly? Feel free to post a photo of that.

[dhickmanjr]

I would say that it appears to have been cut off at some point. The metal is flush to the edge of the end and may have been cut off with the tip. I have posted a couple of pictures of one of the ends. The other end is basically the same.

My brief search this afternoon didn't show anything longer than 102". Nor did it turn up anything with a bolt pattern/hub as small as this one. I am sure there are some out there....I've just not seen them yet.