Sealand Tower
October 3, 2013 at 11:48 pm

Straightening Bent Props

Evening all

Seeing the picture of the recovered propeller from Spitfire L1059 causes me to ask the question how easy would it be to straighten bent blades for restoration for a static project ?

Cheers

ST

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By: Sealand Tower - 4th October 2013 at 16:12

Thanks very much for the info gents. The Freeman Field Recovery page is epic ! Seeing our fellow forumite’s build of Spitfire 1 L1019 made me think that could be a fitting destination for L1059’s Propeller !

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By: G-ORDY - 4th October 2013 at 14:04

Check out the Freeman Field Recovery Team’s Facebook page. Lots of photos of prop blades which they have straightened and restored. Some very rare Japanese and German examples there.

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By: MerlinPete - 4th October 2013 at 00:29

They can be straightened in a hydraulic press. It explains how to do it in the prop manuals. Once you go through more than so many degrees you have to anneal the blade again, but as they are pretty flexible, you could possibly just press them straight in one go for a static restoration, but there is a risk of them cracking. The material doesn’t behave the same as 60 year old aircraft skinning, which has to be annealed first, although it is still a high duty alloy.

Pete