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Please help identify this propeller blade

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  • Please help identify this propeller blade

    Hi All,

    I would very much appreciate your help in identifying the propeller in the attached photos. It appears to be a wood / laminate blade on a steel base.

    It has the following markings on the base:

    Stamped in a round circle: ELF 1

    Stamped: RA 5812 (or RA 5S12) 12935

    Thanks in advance!
    Attached Files

  • #2
    I'd try contacting Monte Chase on his website http://www.notplanejane.com. I'm not sure it's even wooden, but it's clearly a variable pitch blade.
    Dave

    Comment


    • #3
      Your prop is made by Rotol of compressed resin-impregnated wood. The number that you quote is for a Rotol adaptor which was widely used with the RR Merlin engine for the Spitfire, Hurricane, Whitley, Lancaster, Beaufighter, Halifax, Battle, Defiant, Fulmar, Wrekin, Baracuda, York and a few others that I can't remember off the cuff.

      There might be a number further up the hub for the blade type, which might link it to one type of aircraft. RA4080 would be an example.

      With kind regards,

      Bob
      Bob Gardner
      Author; WW1 British Propellers, WWI German Propellers
      http://www.aeroclocks.com

      Comment


      • #4
        Thank you very much!

        Really appreciate the help!

        I did find this blade also on the internet which seems very very similar also:
        http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=82292

        Comment


        • #5
          Beware of drawing conclusions from propellers that "look similar". They are very much like tires - produced in large quantities and designed for a specific application and rim, etc. Thousands of them look the same, but are not interchangeable. Even as early as WW1 and shortly afterwards there were literally thousands of different propeller designs as well.
          Dave

          Comment


          • #6
            Thanks Dave I'll remember that!

            Bob - had a good look and found the following additional number stamped onto the hub on the other side: D15361

            Does that narrow it down any further?

            Thanks again for all your help!

            Comment


            • #7
              Sorry, no.

              I think this number is a production number.

              Bob
              Bob Gardner
              Author; WW1 British Propellers, WWI German Propellers
              http://www.aeroclocks.com

              Comment


              • #8
                Another Propeller blade

                Hello All,

                Forgive me for tagging onto this thread, but I also have a blade to identify.

                It's from the small collection of my late father-in-law so I have no information as to where it originated.

                I have one blade marked RA10160/RTS, and also with a red circle with the following numbers on it

                top to bottom

                RS
                272211
                277811
                281540
                280000

                My searches so far indicate it to be a Rotol blade made of resin impregnated wood, (JABLO?) with a wear strip on the leading edge. On another forum it says

                "RA10160 were used on R23/4B6/4 props fitted to Firebrand Mks. III, IV & V"

                Is this true, and are there any other applications for this blade?
                I also might have to dispose of this for my wife, any ideas of value? There are also a couple of more mundane fixed pitch propellers for a Gypsy Major and Cirrus Major III, but I think these are much more common.

                Thanks in advance for your help.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Good Morning Neil,

                  Your information is correct. The blade was only used on the Blackburn Firebrand Mk III, IV and V.

                  We might be able to identify your Cirrus and Gypsy props if you tell us the data.

                  E-mail me at aeroclocks at (written phonetically like this to deceive the harvesting bots) btinternet dot com and I'll be able to offer advice on how to dispose of them, which in the UK is generally at auction.

                  With kind regards,

                  Bob
                  Bob Gardner
                  Author; WW1 British Propellers, WWI German Propellers
                  http://www.aeroclocks.com

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Thanks so much for that Bob, I will certainly email when I have taken a few snaps. Any advice will be gratefully received.

                    Neil

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