Recent content by Pete_Homer_AK

Sorry to be so late in replying to post A4K and thanks for your observation! One big sticking point on several crashes including this one is factoring in feathering. 42-38640 could very well have nosed in at the end of the runway causing a prop to be torn from the engine along with the...

These photos of a C-47 were taken by Capt Clifford McGinnes base engineer on Amchitka Island Dec 1944-Jan 1946. Note the hole in the left engine in the front view. It is missing its reduction gear along with the propeller. Our mystery prop. also has a reduction gear still attached...

This is a early 1970's photo of the scrap metal dump near the runway on Amchitka Island where the mystery prop was recovered. The biologist taking the image was interested in the P-38 remains and, unfortunately, not the C-47 just to the left and off frame which could be the source of our...

Thought I would give a short update/progress report on the search for the source of our mystery prop. Feathering specs stenciled on the prop strongly point to use on C-47, C-47A, C-53, C-53D aircraft and their variants such as the navy R4D1 and R-4D5 (so far only accident reports for the C-47's...

Really great photos! Thanks for posting them. I was especially interested in the B-24 wreck. There was a crash on Feb 25, 1943 which included the death of the bombardier, 2nd lt Socrates S. Pappas. He was buried on Amchitka in the Base Cemetery. The prop on number 4 engine was feathered as...

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Thanks for the reply jbenetka. I am researching the history of a propeller we have here in Homer that was recovered from Amchitka and is likely from a WW2 wreck. It is a Hamilton-Standard 23E50-6477A-0 with 16min/88max feathering specs. The 6477A-0 is a very common blade used on many aircraft...

Is there a newer version of the Army Air Force document "Maintenance Interchangeability Cross Reference Charts" T.O. 00-25-29, December 1943? I am specifically interested in propeller interchangeability for C-47 aircraft and variants from 1943 to present. Thanks!

Solder...Thanks for sharing the information about your grandfather on Amchitka during the war. I would be keen to see any crash photos, especially C-47 aircraft as they are the most likely source of our Mystery Prop at this writing. You also might want to checkout Amchitka Scrapbooks for...

Hi Solder, I am the fellow posting on Aleutian Campaign regarding the mystery prop from Amchitka Island. The original poster was a temporary employee working for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Homer. Funding ran out so he no longer is employed there. I am a volunteer researcher for the...

Thanks for the tip swampyankee. Will give them a try.

Thanks swampyankee. Excellent Idea. Have contacted the prop manufacturer earlier in the search but didn't feel we were both on the same page. There is probably more information in their files if I can contact the right person. I will try again with the New England Air Museum and maybe they...

The stenciled specifications on the propeller blade indicate a minimum pitch of 16 degrees and max 88 degrees. According to Tech Order 00-25-29, the only aircraft authorized to use the Hamilton-Standard 23E50-6477A-0 propeller with those pitch setting is the C-47 and C-47A. That eliminates the...

Would like some help confirming that a Hamilton-Standard propeller with 23E50 hub setup for 16 degrees minimum and 88 degrees maximum pitch with 6477A-0 blades could only be from a C-47 or C-47A aircraft. Here is how I arrived at that conclusion. T.O. 00-25-29 Maintenance Interchangeability...

Have learned the gears attached to the mystery prop are from a reduction gear assembly used on a Pratt and Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial engine. With consideration of aircraft used on Amchitka, the prop could have come from a B-24D or C-47 but NOT from a B-17E (used for weather and photo...