Prop identification

[jsimple3]

Recently got this Hispanic-Suiza engine prop that's 108 inches long with blades about 10 inches wide. I researched a little about the maker, W.D. Oddy & Co., which formed as a company in 1919. But I read where they were making props before becoming an official company. I know you can't be sure of an airplane a prop was made for, but do you have a general idea of when it would have been made? Thanks...I love reading your forum!

[Dbahnson]

Bob Gardner was the expert on dating production based on the "G" and "N" numbers, so you might find a range by searing on his responses on this forum. Unfortunately, Bob developed Alzheimer's several years ago and no longer posts.

My guess is that it was likely manufactured in the late teens or early twenties for the AD Flying Boat. Keep in mind that some of these early designs were used long after WW1 and production continued during that period.

[jsimple3]

Thanks for your quick response. Very sorry about Bob.

[Jdroth109]

Looking to find out more info and value of a prop that I inherited 26 years ago, it has many readable identifications.
Airplane Douglas xo-2
inline packard **1500 150 HP
Part NO X-49**7
All the above appear on the wooden propeller. Please help if you have any information. Thank you

[Mtskull]

Maybe this should have its own thread?
There is a page on the Douglas O-2 On Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_O-2
If correct, then your propeller can be linked not just to an aircraft type but to a specific airframe, as it appears that only the second prototype XO-2 was fitted with the Packard engine.

[Mtskull]

Regarding the Hispano Suiza propeller, somewhere there is likely to exist a record of the application for Design Number AD645; finding it might be a different matter….
Meanwhile, a few thoughts:

1) I can’t claim that this is definitive but, as far as I am aware, only the later, more powerful HIspano Suiza engines with geared propeller drive used left handed propellers in a tractor configuration. This is a long winded way of saying that your propeller was most likely used in a pusher application.
2) It is quite a big propeller, a little longer than the ones typically fitted to Spads and SE5as and the most telling clue is that it has a much finer pitch than is typical for a high performance aircraft such as a fighter.
3) Having searched the internet for examples of aircraft fitted with Hispano Suiza engines in a pusher configuration, the only example I can find supports Dave Bahnson’s suggestion that it may be from an AD flying boat. This type used a variety of engines, including the 200 hp Hispano. One example however is recorded as having been experimentally fitted with a 150 hp engine in 1917 and a photo confirms that this used a two-bladed propeller (most, if not all, of the others used four).
If this could be proved to be the application for your propeller, this would date it quite precisely, as this appears to have been one-off installation.
As Dave has pointed out, the stamped horsepower figures were not always accurate; the 140 hp Hispano engine of 1915 was almost immediately replaced by the 150 hp and more powerful variants, yet there are a lot of propellers stamped “140 hp Hispano Suiza” that date from long after the type was superseded.

I hope this is helpful; that’s a beautiful propeller by the way!

Andy

[jsimple3]

Andy: I VERY much appreciate all the time and effort you put into researching this prop! Great information and a lot to contemplate. The reason I love very old props so much is they each tell a story, and knowing that over a 100 years ago dedicated aviation pioneers designed and meticulously crafted an item that was so nice to look at they never were destroyed.