Imperial propeller - I.D. ? and advise needed

[airmanual]

Hello,

Just bought this week a German WWI propeller that had stayed in a Brussels (Belgium) coal shed for the last 80 years. Unfortunately, the roof collapsed around 15 years ago and the prop is badly damaged.

After hours and hours of cleaning close to a century od dirt and dust, was pleasantly surprised to discover that both iron crosses and at least one imperial logo had survived decades of neglect.

Its clearly for an Mercedes 160 HP (see photo). But was this propeller fitted to a particular airplane ?

Advise : what would you do with this propeller as its clearly in a very bad condition. a. Go for a full restoration b. replace a minimum of the totally rotten wood c. just reglue it nicely without replacing anything.

Also, is there any particular product to be used to be sure that all those little beasts that have been slowly eating the propeller won't damage it any further.

Regards,

Laurent

[Dave]

German propellers can be very hard to identify beyond the engine itself. Bob Gardner may have a better idea of the possibilities. (He should be back soon.)

Personally, I would do very little to it, perhaps just assemble the pieces where they belong and probably epoxy them together, with no attempt to make it look like it hadn't delaminated. Any way you try to restore it you will lose the decals as they are, and they are one of the highlights of the whole propeller.

The storage in the shed and the collapse of the roof are just part of the propeller's provenance. So it shows, but that's OK.

[abufletcher]

The storage in the shed and the collapse of the roof are just part of the propeller's provenance. So it shows, but that's OK.

Spoken like a true historian!

I'm curious about the Imperial decal's similarly to the one used by the Integral Propeller Werke that I reconstructed a while ago. Were these two companies somehow connected?

[Bob Gardner]

Hi Don,

There is a common theme of European heraldry running through French, German and British prop decals most of which stretches back to medieval times, about seven hundred years.

For example the German black cross (the Iron Cross, Eisernes Kreuz) has the form of a cross patee which probably pre-dates european christianity. The iron cross form found on german aircraft and some props dates back to around 1300 when it was the symbol of the teutonic knights who founded what became Prussia.

The same design in red was used by English Crusaders and the cross patee is the form of the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest gallantry award. It also occurs with the Koh-i-Nor diamond in the crown of the wife of George VI.

The star similarly has a history dating back several hundred years at least, probably to pre-Christian times. Chauviere used it in his integral decal. It occurs in several British and several German decals in variable form. In the British form, the surround often takes the form of a belt or garter.

mfg,

Bob

[abufletcher]

Thanks for that info, Bob. I've been wondering about the German crosses. Would this be equivalent to American companies putting on an American flag decal, that is, just a patriotic expression? Or does it indicate that this group of companies is somehow "officially" recognized or something like that?

[Bob Gardner]

Just a burst of patriotism I think. As the Kaiser became increasingly unpopular from 1916 onwards, there was some movement away from the Iron Cross motif in the aviation world, beginning with the deletion of his personal cipher from the cross.

Bob

[buffalobill]

Insect damage

Hello,
About the insect damage on your prop. I had the same type insect damage, holes, on some old oak beams. The insects doing the damage where a type of flying ant. Looking at the grain on your prop where there is insect damage, that area also looks like oak to me. These flying ants also like other fruit and nut woods. I killed the ones I had in my Oak Beams my laying the wood on sheets of plastic, spraying them down with insect killer, and then wraping the beams in the plastic and sealing all the plastics seams with duct tape to seal any insects in that may have been still in the wood from being able to possibly escape. If they are not killed they emerge from the wood about the middle of August. You wouldn't want these insects in your house as they might do damage to other wood in your home.