ID needed please

[Nerdynath]

Hi,
my Grandfather gave me this propeller 28 years ago. He bought three from a tech school that was closing down 10 or 20 years before I got it. He told me he bought three of them, gave two to a friends son, who was studying carpentry and he cut them up. My Pop was not happy. Apparently it is WW1 German and made from rosewood.

It is 2810mm from tip to tip. 8 bolt pattern.

The markings are hard to read

On the front it says

TAN
160 P.S. S. H.3 MOTOR
2800 D 390 ST
_ _ _ _ _ZUG


On the back it says

T290
34
L
_78

Would love to know what it is off and rough value please?
Thank you

https://goo.gl/photos/bZc4nytFGyTgjCcx9

Hopefully the photo link works

[Bob Gardner]

Welcome to the forum!

Your propeller is extremely rare. However, note that it is half of a four-bladed prop, as you can see by the notch in the hub.

It was made for one of the best German fighters of WW1, the Pfalz D VIII of 1918 powered by the Siemens Halske SH3 engine. I only know of one complete prop of this type which is in the Technical Museum in Berlin. A lady in Australia has a single blade like yours. The Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow has a two bladed prop on the SH3 engine fitted to their Albatros H1. And a European Museum has in theory three or four but if they still exist they are likely to be derelict. The boy who cut up the two blades your grandfather gave him is guilty of criminal stupidity and if one of these two blades was the same as yours, he has deprived the aviation world of a complete second example of this very rare propeller.

I should add that at least two replicas have been made for replica aircraft in museums. (If any readers of this post know of any more complete examples, please let me know.)

The data on the prop translates as;

WOTAN The prop maker
(I can't decipher the second row)
160ps SH3 Motor 160hp Siemens Halske SH3 engine
2800D the diameter of the prop in mm.
390 St the pitch of the prop in cm
EDULZUG anti-clockwise rotation in a tractor configuration
NR 8348 (perhaps) The Wotan serial number
T99 The Wotan type number

It is not possible to guess what your prop might be worth. I'm not aware that any have ever come to market. Its value is considerably reduced because it is only half of a complete propeller. You should insure it for $2000 USD although you would not be able to replace it.

I am just finishing the last book in my series on German WW1 propellers. May I use your photographs in the section on Wotan? If so, please tell me your name so that I can attribute the photographs to you.

With kind regards,

Bob

[Nerdynath]

Thank you very much for your help Bob!

[Nerdynath]

Hi Bob, I'm wondering if you got my PM? It didn't show up in my sent messages

[Dattocam]

Another blade for the database.

Hey guys,

Great forum you have here. I joined so I can share a couple of photos of a prop that was discovered under a house here in Australia.