Prop assembly wanted

The metal parts of a four blade Spitfire prop with corrosion pits within tolerance for dressing out would be valued at..hold your breath….up to £40k.

5% of mark IX’s is still nearly 300 aircraft.

Mark

Cheap at half the price then ???

I saw two of those heading South after a Seafire dig. Now I know why they never came back!

The metal parts of a four blade Spitfire prop with corrosion pits within tolerance for dressing out would be valued at..hold your breath….up to £40k.

5% of mark IX’s is still nearly 300 aircraft.

Mark

So to go back to my original question does anyone know to a four blade prop assembly to go on the front of a Merlin in a Spit.Does not have to be metal can be whatever so long as they look right,they balance and will go round on the engine at low speed without flying off !!!. If no full assemblies the centre hub would be a nice start.

Ta very muchly.

Mike E

Mike,

The Spit 4-bladers were Rotol with wooden blades so you won’t be finding a bent one:D

There are loose old Rotol wooden blades to be found which could be repaired for static use. There was a load of them to be found in use as fence posts south of Knutsford not too many years ago. The owner only wanted an ordinary fence post fitted as a replacement in exchange.

Anon.

I know I was the one selling them for about 3 years or did you forget that one ???

Before you find this thread all too boring and nod off, perhaps you could answer my unanswered PM and forum questions about the R5/3 and DB191A blades?

Oh, very sorry but I thought I had answered that one but sure enough it would appear I have not.

Sorry to say I don’t have the specs you are looking for.

Sorry about that.

Have I said sorry yet?

Anne

Sorry,
Amendment List 1 to post 12.
Scrub XI and insert IX

Ah…thanks! Yes, I was just scratching my head over the Mk XI.

Thank you for confirming that I had not gone completely bonkers in my assertion that there was very much such an animal as a four-bladed metal prop on Spitfires!

Sorry,
Amendment List 1 to post 12.
Scrub XI and insert IX

Yawn…time to wake up…there is a prop thread to but into.

Rotol R2/4F5/2 & R2/4F5/3 props used on the Spitfire VI along with the R3/4F5/2 & R3/4F5/3 props used on the Spitfires VII, VIII & XI all used Dural blades.

Back to bed…

Anne

Before you find this thread all too boring and nod off, perhaps you could answer my unanswered PM and forum questions about the R5/3 and DB191A blades?

Hmmm…

So no Mk IX’s you think?

I had a serial range which had been fed to me via Mr Spitfire that rather indicates we have a batch of IXs, too.

Yawn…time to wake up…there is a prop thread to but into.

Rotol R2/4F5/2 & R2/4F5/3 props used on the Spitfire VI along with the R3/4F5/2 & R3/4F5/3 props used on the Spitfires VII, VIII & XI (Wrong! see post 14) all used Dural blades.

Back to bed…

Anne

Quote: All the Spitfire 4-blade props were Rotol with wood blades

Whilst you did qualify this by saying there may have been the odd exception for in service evaluation, there were a goodly number of production Spitfires fitted with four bladed metal props. However, you are probably not far from the mark when you say that 95% or so were wood, but it would be wrong to say they were not fitted opertionally to a good number of production and in-service Spitfires.

I do have the full serial range and, as it so happens, I am currently going through that list to identify the loss of a mystery Spitfire known to have been thus fitted. When I get a mo I will give you what I believe the total number after a count-up, unless somebody can provide it first!

Wooden blades

I didn’t say there weren’t any, Andy, but there were very few with metal blades.

With the metal bladed prop weighing in over 100 lbs more than the equivalent wooden bladed unit, where weight mattered, as in a fighter, the latter was standard. No-doubt there were trials and possibly shortages but as far as I am aware wood blades were pretty much standard.

Where extra durability was required, such as the seaplane trials Spits for water erosion resistance, metal blades would have been superior and were used.

Can any of the real Spitfire experts comment on the numbers involved? I’d be willing to wager on 95%-plus being wood, which makes it as good as a standard fit for those aircraft requiring a 4-blade prop.

Take a look at pictures of 4-blade prop Spits, they are all wooden bladers identifiable by the thicker, larger-chord blades as opposed to the more slender metal ones.

Anon.

In 1971 the Hastings fishing trawler RX 59 brought ashore a Merlin and a quantity of Spitfire wreckage including a four bladed prop with the corroded stumps of four metal prop blades.

In 1978/9 I was involved in the recovery of a Spitfire where a four bladed metal prop assembly was found.

More recently, and possibly there are some images out there, a Spitfire was recovered in Pas-de-Calais during May 1996 in the belief that it was Douglas Bader’s Spitfire. It turned out not to be although amongst the finds was a four bladed prop with metal blades, of which there are photographs extant.

Garden posts

I think I’ve got one of those garden post props it was covered in green paint and the routes had rotted. A bit of careful cleaning with nirtromores it came up well and didn’t distrube the black paint finish underneath. Looks/feels good as a piece of tactile weathered scupture.

I beg to differ.

There most certainly were metal bladed (four blade) prop assemblies on a number of Mk IX Spitfires.

Spit 4-bladers

All the Spitfire 4-blade props were Rotol with wood blades. There may have been the odd exception if/when stuff was issued for in-service evaluation.

There were Rotol props with aluminium alloy or mag alloy blades – but not on 4-blade prop Spits.

Anon.

Not all were wooden!

Were they 4-blade Rotol hubs with alloy blades, or a DH type such as the Balliol?

Pete

Not all were wooden!

Mike,

The Spit 4-bladers were Rotol with wooden blades so you won’t be finding a bent one:D

You beat me to it!

Pete