4 Blade prop found in a Florida swamp.

[dragontb]

The property is near Eustis, FL. Please see attached pictures.

 

[dragontb]

Any one with information to the model of aircraft this 4 bladed prop assembly belongs to please reply.
Thanks Eric
WW2 Aircraft

 

[AL90]

Any one with information to the model of aircraft this 4 bladed prop assembly belongs to please reply.
Thanks Eric
WW2 Aircraft

Reminds me of a Lockheed Neptune set of blades we found at local crash site in Scotland or maybe from a Lockheed Electra.
Alan.

 

[dragontb]

I have a second visit to the site scheduled for this Tuesday and hope to have some accurate measurements of the blades. That will require excavation as most of the blades are covered by vegetation and muck. The shape of the blade tips will tell us more and I will post more pictures once we get the whole assembly out of the ground and cleaned.
Eric

 

[Michael Hope]

I have a second visit to the site scheduled for this Tuesday and hope to have some accurate measurements of the blades. That will require excavation as most of the blades are covered by vegetation and muck. The shape of the blade tips will tell us more and I will post more pictures once we get the whole assembly out of the ground and cleaned.
Eric

Can you can an image of the hub to see if it is a split hub or a solid hub?
If it is a solid hub, it could be from a C-119 or other aircraft, using a Hamilton Standard 24260, they were in 14 foot or 15 foot diameter.

 

[Tom Fey]

Looks like hollow steel blades and Hamilton Standard hub/dome. I'd guess it is off a Lockheed P2V/P-2 Neptune or C-119 as mentioned above.

 

[SaparotRob]

From swamp junk to an historic artifact. I love this Forum.

 

[dragontb]

We made a second visit to the prop site and with a neighbor's help and a small Kabota excavator were able to dig around it more. It is still stuck in the ground held by a Cyprus stump that grew around the bottom of it. Unfortunately the site is still very wet and we were unable to extract the whole assembly from the muck. The small excavator got stuck several times due to the water being pumped up by driving on the surface. We will have to give it several weeks to drain and dry up before we can get back in and extract the whole assembly, get it out on dry land and take some additional pictures. Here are a few more pictures and stay tuned for more later on.

 

[AL90]

We made a second visit to the prop site and with a neighbor's help and a small Kabota excavator were able to dig around it more. It is still stuck in the ground held by a Cyprus stump that grew around the bottom of it. Unfortunately the site is still very wet and we were unable to extract the whole assembly from the muck. The small excavator got stuck several times due to the water being pumped up by driving on the surface. We will have to give it several weeks to drain and dry up before we can get back in and extract the whole assembly, get it out on dry land and take some additional pictures. Here are a few more pictures and stay tuned for more later on.

Are you sure the engine is still not attached, a small Kabota should be able to wrench a prop free. Here's a prop we lifted in 2004.......

 

[dragontb]

Are you sure the engine is still not attached, a small Kabota should be able to wrench a prop free. Here's a prop we lifted in 2004.......

We were not able to get a chain or strap all the way underneath the hub assembly because of that Cypress stump growing into the bottom of it. The prop blades are already in poor enough shape that we did not want to try lifting the whole assembly by 3 props. Once it is dried out more in a couple weeks we can get a chain saw underneath and cut that stump away. I do not believe there is an engine attached because my Minelab 700 did not detect any metal in the spaces between the props. It only showed a metal return on the actual blades. What may be still attached to the hub assembly is the shaft.
Thanks for the picture and we should have more coming in a couple weeks.