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Hello I am new to the forum and wish to find out more about a prop. It is wooden, about 230 cms long and is made from eight 1" layers (laminated) of wood stuck together. I dont know what the pitch of the prop is. There is metal (prob brass) from the tip to about halfway along each leading edge of the prop. There is wear at the prop tips indicating use. The hub has 8 holes and is 23 cms in diameter. On the side of the hub the letters "H B A" or "H R A" followed by the numbers 13096 (but these are very worn) and underneath these numbers is "42". These letters and numbers are raised. The prop was bought at auction in London UK. Can anyone tell me anything about this prop or point me in the right direction to find info. Many thanks.
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aandragon,
It is possible, even likely, you have a German prop manufactured during WW2 as evidenced by the 3-letter code. During the war, as a security measure, the Germans employed 3-letter codes to all manner of manufactured products. These random codes identified the maker but little else. But before you go further, please recheck your three letters. If you find the code is really "hbg" instead of "hba" or "hra", then your prop was definately made by the Alfred Schwarz AG, Metallwerk Frodenburg Am Ruhr, Eisenach plant...a well known maker of German wooden propeller blades. The meaning of the solitary number "42" is unknown. For it to be a serial number (werknummern) it would have usually had four to six digits preceded by the letters "W.Nr." but very early serial numbers could have had only three digits. That's why I don't think it was any sort of serial number. Instead, the "42" could have denoted a separate facility within the main company. But this is just a guess. -
Sorry, but I must back-track. In my earlier message, I mistakenly cited the code for the Alfred Schwarz company when I was really thinking of the Gustav Schwarz KG firm! In spite of similar names, they were two un-related companies. What I should have checked were the code(s) for the Gustav Schwarz firm. Maker codes for this company included hgd (Berlin-Waidmannslust), hge (Eilenburg/Sachsen) and hgf (Prossen). Thus, it looks as though your prop is NOT one of these, and I can not find a 3-digit code matching either hba or hra. That doesn't mean they didn't exist, it is just my index does not include them. Sorry, for leading you astray.Comment
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Harold,
Your expertise is most welcome. I hope we can all learn from you.
With kind regards,
BobComment
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You are welcome Bob.
But unfortunately, the more you learn the more you realize you don't know...
HalComment
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Hello Harold,
I completely understand. I wince when people call me an expert. I am only too aware of the huge amount I don't know.
With kind regards,
BobComment
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