Impellers for superchargers, and a prop spinner

[Larrythepilot]

For a number of years, the Freeman Army Airfield Museum has had 2 impellers out on a table; simply identified as Impellers for Superchargers. It's about time we got more information, and made better exhibit signs. Accordingly, I brought the impellers home, found some numbers, and photographed them. We would very much like to know which engines these impellers are associated with, and, in turn, which aircraft used those engines. Perhaps Engineman will have some information. Here is some additional information about each impeller. Pictures attached

Gold-tinted impeller: The number on it is D 1404. It is about 10.5" in diameter, and has a height of about 3".
Other, larger impeller: Numbers are s. 02 796, and NO 1037. It is approx. 12" in diameter, and 2.25" high.

On that same table there was a misidentified prop spinner. A long time ago somebody identified it as belonging to an airplane that had a 3-blade prop. However, this spinner is clearly for a 2-blade propeller. It turns out that there is a very clear ID plate on the spinner, and my camera has a macro mode, so I was able to get a good picture of the plate. The dimensions of the prop spinner are about 16" diameter at the rear, tapering to 12.5" at the front, and it is 10.5 inches depth (front-rear). Pictures attached.

Thanks for your help.
Larry

 

[mjfur]

My guess on the spinner (based on the data plate) would be for one associated with the Argus type engine, Arado AR 96, FW 189, etc..

 

[tomo pauk]

Gold-tinted impeller: The number on it is D 1404. It is about 10.5" in diameter, and has a height of about 3".
Other, larger impeller: Numbers are s. 02 796, and NO 1037. It is approx. 12" in diameter, and 2.25" high.

Judging by the looks, the impellers are from the DB engines (Jumo impellers are fully shrouded; BMW impellers have straight vanes (besides the 801E, S and F, that were rare)). Judging by the size, the smaller should be from the DB 605A, the bigger should be from the DB 603A.

 

[Engineman]

Hi Larry!
Great photo's of the spinner and it's dataplate!
There is no doubt, it says "Spinner for Argus variablepitch propeller". The designer is VDM, maker is F.Greiss & Co Leipzig.
VDM documentation for this part is hard to find in the VDM Manuals. However, it is specifically for the two-blade Argus designed automatic variable pitch propeller, fitted to smaller aircraft with the Argus aircooled inverted V engines, like the Arado 96 trainer.
Maybe, VDM were not that bothered about this non-VDM propeller. Certainly, you would expect that Argus would have simply designed their own spinner for their own Argus propeller?
Possibly, someone has a manual with the exact part number 9-60032.30?

Cheers

Eng

 

[Engineman]

Hi Larry,

Wow, some really nice Supercharger impellers!
These are very interesting, but I need some more information to give you an exact confirmed identification. Please could you measure the the impellers accurately in millimeters
for me to check. For each impeller I need, the max diameter from outside tips (possibly best measured across the rear), and the diameter across the tips of the inlet vanes. If you
can measure those accurately, it would be good. If you must measure in inches, please be accurate to 1/16th of an inch.
For your information, the smaller yellow anodised impeller is likely from a Daimler Benz DB 601 E. However, the larger plain alloy or clear anodised impeller may be from the
extremely rare Daimler Benz DB 603 L 2-Stage supercharged engine, which would be a great find! The DB 603 L engines were designed as very high altitude fighter engines for
use against aircraft such as the B-29 if it had been used in Europe.
Please get those measurements and I can confirm exactly.

Cheers

Eng

 

[Larrythepilot]

Thank you all for the responses. I think we now have the spinner pretty well sorted out. I still have the impellers here at home, so, I can get the accurate measurements, in millimeters, that Eng requested, hopefully later today. ..... When I was in Vietnam in 1966, I had Vietnamese carpenters working for me. They used hand tools, and were real craftsmen, but they didn't speak a word of English. I had a teenage girl interpreter (her older brother was a VNAF pilot, flying Skyraiders), but when it came to designing things, I had to do all the dimensions in the metric system. So yes, I can work with/in the metric system.

Larry

 

[Engineman]

Thanks Larry,

It just helps working in the same scale that the original info is in. Also, quite small differences are simple in mm. I am online for about another 5 hours so, I will see if you manage to
put more details up.
If that larger impeller is DB 603 L, it is a very rare thing. I am not aware of a surviving example. As I hinted, the first production engines were flying in some Ta 152 C aircraft at the end of the War. Of course, my interest is whether there are other parts?

Eng

 

[Larrythepilot]

Impeller dimensions for Engineman. These dimensions were measured with a scale marked in millimeters, and read directly in millimeters. They are NOT calculated from inches.

Smaller gold-anodized impeller: OD to tips is 265mm. Diameter of inlet tips is 152mm.
Larger clear anodized impeller: OD 305mm; inlet tips 160mm

Finally, thank you for your earlier compliment on my recent photography. The reason for the improvement is that I have stopped using my cell phone for most of the technical pictures I take. The cell phone is more convenient, but I have way less control over the result. I have "adopted" my wife's Nikon Coolpix P300 camera. It has a macro setting, so it will focus very close. I can directly control the resolution, so I get sufficient detail without getting too big a picture that hogs up file space, and takes a long time to transmit and/or load.

Larry