F.E.2b propeller on eBay

[Mtskull]

This looks very interesting: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1927-Wood...r/114269392627

[JR44]

Nice. I hope that radiator isn't on.
The fifth pic is a bit odd.
Why would there be a bit of wood screwed to the hub with the markings on?
Would anyone be flying one of these in 1927?
Also didn't they have a four blade prop?

[Dbahnson]

I've only seen 4-blade props for the FE 2 aircraft, presumably to take advantage of a shorter diameter. That doesn't mean they didn't experiment with other props.

[Mtskull]

My first thought was that this is cheap for such a nice WW1 propeller, but the more I look at it, the more I think that all is not as it seems, for the following reasons:

As I understand it, early examples of the F.E.2b had a 120hp Beardmore engine with a 2 bladed propeller, whilst later examples had the 160hp engine and a 4 blade propeller. This one is stamped “160 HP BEARDMORE” but has two blades (and, as far as I can ascertain, a smaller diameter than the 4 bladed F.E.2b propellers, 8’4” as opposed to 8’9”).

As previously mentioned, the data appears to be stamped on a piece of wood which is screwed to the propeller itself. Has anybody ever seen another example of this? The stamping could be genuine but from another propeller entirely.

It’s a nice propeller of itself but I can’t help feeling that somebody, at some stage in its life, has gone to some trouble to pass this off as something that it is not.
(I hasten to add that, in view of the fact that nowhere in the eBay description is this described as dating from WW1, nor is it described as an F.E.2b propeller, I think the present seller may be exonerated in this regard).

[Dbahnson]

I'd like to see the other side of the hub. One inconsistency is the apparent absence of witness marks on the added wooden plate on the hub. If this was in fact removed from a aircraft that had used it I would expect to see some evidence where a metal hub had compressed the wood.

[pmdec]

Too good to be true?

Mtskull and Dbahnson found some strange details...

Looking at the markings, they are clearly "LP882 A" which was a 4-bladed and 2'9" but this one is a 2-bladed 2'4".

About the thin wooden plate, there is exactly the same in Bob's book Part one page 129... Eight holes and only six screws, with the place without screw along one of the blade axle. Exactly the same. Was this page a model to make this one? Or a proof it was in use?
Looking again at the markings, there are two other strange details: the triple stamping for only half the markings, and the possibility that the one who made the stamping was "stammerer": two B at FE2BB and the same for BBOULTON. But... wait: It can't be a "rotation" of the plate because one double B is at the beginning of the word and the other at the end.

But perhaps I am paranoiac? Could be it simply a "restored" 4-bladed? A lot of work to make 1450 pounds.

Regards,
PM

[Mtskull]

Presumably you mean 8’9” and 8’4”...

Looking more closely and allowing for the double stamping, I see not “LP 882A” but LP 982A.

Personally, I can envisage how the wooden “data plate” could have been unevenly over stamped a couple of times and, to my eye at least, it looks genuine.

I’m just not convinced that it belongs to that prop.

[pmdec]

Hi Mtskull,

Yes, sorry for the wrong size (I rarely use american measures and they have not immediate meaning for me before conversion to metrics...)
And you are right also for the serial number: it is LP 982 A.
Which was a 4-blades LHP of 2700 mm (~ 8'10"). Not a 2-bladed 8'4" as on eBay.

How do you think these markings were made? It seems to me that all were stamped at the same time (with a matrix?) except for the prop number and the letter A.
If stamped with a matrix, how to explain the double Bs ("FE2BB" and "BBOULTON")?

Best regards,
PM

[Mtskull]

Hi Mtskull,

If stamped with a matrix, how to explain the double Bs ("FE2BB" and "BBOULTON")?

Best regards,
PM

Think of the first B of “BOULTON” as part of the first stamping and the last B of “FE2B” as part of the second stamping, the matrix having been rotated one letter’s width clockwise between stamping.

Some of the letters appear to be better defined than others, which perhaps explains why it was stamped more than once.

[JR44]

Looks like someone bought it so we shall never know, although it'll probably crop up on here and there might be some buyers remorse.

[Mtskull]

I messaged the seller, asking him to provide some photos of the other face of the hub, as well as the top & bottom between the blades. Maybe that scared him....
A pity, because it looked like a nice propeller and it would have been interesting to know more about it.
I might even have been tempted to make an offer!