Mystery Props

[Brockhurst]

Hallo, all.

I work for a historic collections centre in the south of England. Recently, while moving some stores, we happened across a couple of old propellers, which had suffered badly, I'm afraid, that no one knew we had. We are very interested to know if any of you chaps or chapesses can shed any light on our finds - possibly even tell us what type of 'plane they might have come from.

The propellers are roughly 66inches/167cm long, of which the 'hub fitting', if that's the right term, comprises 7inches/18cm. The hub fitting is 5¾inches/14.5cm in diameter. On the end of one of the hub fittings there is the inscription 16694. There is something inscribed on the other prop's hub fitting but, unfortunately, it is illegible.

Any info you guys can furnish us with would be very gratefully received. I've included a few photos but I must apologise for the quality. It was a very heavy weekend and my hands still aren't too steady.

[Dave]

The photos are good. Unfortunately, I think they are going to be fairly hard to identify. Perhaps your best bet will be to compare the shape and size to an existing known propeller, and that might best be done at an aviation museum.

[Brockhurst]

Thanks for your thoughts, Dave.

Does anyone know what era of aircraft they're likely to have come from? I don't know whether it's clear from the photos, but they're made from laminations of hardwood, if that's any help.