de havilland hydromatic propellers

6/60-spline Beau bracket prop

Yes, correct, they did fit the bracket-type props on early Beaus. The same prop went on the Beaufort too, which had the same spline.
It wasn’t the same as the Spit prop though as it had to be a bit bigger to accommodate the larger No.6 prop shaft and the higher power. There wasn’t much in it though and it is hard to tell them apart unless they are side-by-side.
These bracket-type props were licence-built Hamiltons and were common on many 1930’s aircraft on both sides of the atlantic.

Anon.

Thanks Pete, I knew I was in the right place! I believe this type of unit was also fitted to the early Beaufighter as well.

Dan

You`re welcome!
I`m pretty sure that they did not make this prop with a No6 SBAC shaft bore, if so then the early Beaufighter would have had a Hydromatic just like the later ones. Don`t quote me on that though. I don`t know exactly when they started to manufacture the Hydromatic type. the Mosquito had it from day one, late 1940, as did the Stirling, another early type.

Pete

Thanks Pete, I knew I was in the right place! I believe this type of unit was also fitted to the early Beaufighter as well.

Dan

Hydromatic

I believe some Australian based Spitfire V’s were fitted with 3 blade DH Hydromatic units. Whether this was factory fit or done post delivery I could not say, but no doubt Mk12 will have more info.

G

Hi Dan

I think what you may be referring to is the DH bracket type prop. The Hydromatic was either not used on Spitfires, or very little.
The pic here shows a sectioned one, there are some more on the same site if you click the link.
http://www.enginehistory.org/TM/htm/tmv5n2.htm

Pete