Who can identify this PROPELLERBLADE

[Kurtl]

I'm looking for information about this propeller blade. Unfortunatly it's boss connection is broken off an no numbers at all were found on it. The material seems to be aluminium. Color: black and on it's tip: yellow. There is one noticeable flat area near the boss area (last picture).
For it's shape and dimensions please look at the pictures attached.
width: ~31cm/12,2in
length: ~180cm/70,8in
It would be great if someone can tell me anything about it. Maybe it is possible to identify the aircraft the propeller is coming from? Thank you for any help in advance! Cheers, Kurtl

 

[Kurtl]

Here is some more from the same aircraft. Any ideas what aircraft type this was?

 

[FLYBOYJ]

It seems to be an American aircraft - Alcoa aluminum and standard NAS bolts and AN rivets.

2nd pic from the bottom - the two bolts mounted on the block with an angled clip under the head is some kind of retension divice for a cable, I've seen this before on other aircraft. Are there any other numbers on this part?

 

[Kurtl]

Thanks to FLYBOYJ for his post! Unfortunatly we found no other numbers or markings on those parts. I think the large size of the propeller blade rules out many types...

 

[nuuumannn]

The prop blade looks like it could be a Hamilton Standard part. The blade butt, which would have its part number stamped on it would confirm this, but its been rather savagely broken off. You'll note that it was hollow inside. This was for balancing purposes. Lead weights were placed inside the blades to bring them to the same weights as the heaviest blade fitted to the hub. From the damage done to the blade, it looks like it suffered impact at speed with the ground.

 

[GrauGeist]

Perhaps the best way to narrow down the search, would be to make a search of records for Allied aircraft that were downed in the direct area where these artifacts were found. if records indicated that one or two fighters went down in the area, that would simplify things, but if it was an active target area where fighters and bombers went down, then this would complicates things a little...

 

[MiTasol]

Hi Kurtl
I suggest you look for a part number or extrusion number as that is your best key
For example 75- would indicate P-40 or B-17 or PT-13/17 or A-35 as a start. The Ham Std prop rules out the P-40 and prop size the PT-13/17. The B-17 and A-35 can be identified by the way the rest of the part number is structured
North American and Bell also use a 2 digit prefix followed by dashes tho NAA (like Douglas) like to use the same part as often a possible - eg BT-9, BT-14, Yale family/BC-1, AT-6, T-6 Harvard family/ A-36 and P51 family, B-25 family and 0-47 family all use the 19-53054 seat bracket in some or all versions
Convair use two digits followed by a letter (28 for Catalina and 32 for B-24)
Seven digits straight (with no prefix and maybe a -suffix) is most likely Douglas or Northrop and are somewhat harder to suss out as a C-47 part can be just one digit different from an A-20 part
A prefix letter followed by a - and six (from memory) digits indicates probably a Martin aircraft

There appear to be inspection stamps on the part. These also can identify the manufacturer tho being an extrusion they may be Alcoa stamps for production and heat treat
An elongated D with numbers inside was one of the Douglas stamps.
The caution here is that some manufacturers made parts for others and a lot of stuff was made by others - eg NAA made parts for Curtiss and Ford built most B-24s

Finally in the second bottom photo those may be cable supports on a part that has loosened OR anti-rotation lock tabs (the curved over part prevents the whole bolt rotating an both are in the location you should find them - ie the ccw edge firmly against structure)

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Hi Kurtl
I suggest you look for a part number or extrusion number as that is your best key
For example 75- would indicate P-40 or B-17 or PT-13/17 or A-35 as a start. The Ham Std prop rules out the P-40 and prop size the PT-13/17. The B-17 and A-35 can be identified by the way the rest of the part number is structured
North American and Bell also use a 2 digit prefix followed by dashes tho NAA (like Douglas) like to use the same part as often a possible - eg BT-9, BT-14, Yale family/BC-1, AT-6, T-6 Harvard family/ A-36 and P51 family, B-25 family and 0-47 family all use the 19-53054 seat bracket in some or all versions
Convair use two digits followed by a letter (28 for Catalina and 32 for B-24)
Seven digits straight (with no prefix and maybe a -suffix) is most likely Douglas or Northrop and are somewhat harder to suss out as a C-47 part can be just one digit different from an A-20 part
A prefix letter followed by a - and six (from memory) digits indicates probably a Martin aircraft

There appear to be inspection stamps on the part. These also can identify the manufacturer tho being an extrusion they may be Alcoa stamps for production and heat treat
An elongated D with numbers inside was one of the Douglas stamps.
The caution here is that some manufacturers made parts for others and a lot of stuff was made by others - eg NAA made parts for Curtiss and Ford built most B-24s

Finally in the second bottom photo those may be cable supports on a part that has loosened OR anti-rotation lock tabs (the curved over part prevents the whole bolt rotating an both are in the location you should find them - ie the ccw edge firmly against structure)

I believe these items were found in Austria, with that said I think most if all training aircraft you mentioned could be ruled out.

Aviation Archaeology - Part Number Prefix By Manufacturer

 

[MiTasol]

Hi Flyboy
That is a magic link you provided.
I was only listing the aircraft I had worked on and to find that someone had done the whole shebang was fantastic.
The error in that listing is that it does not allow for the fact that some/many/most? manufacturers did not waste time reinventing the wheel so many parts were used on more than one model.
I previously used the NAA seat bracket example but as another example you will find many 75- part numbers on the P-40 even tho the Curtiss model 75 is the Hawk 75/P-36 series aircraft. The 75- part numbers on the P-40 include almost the complete main landing gear on all except the P-40N and many tail group parts. Also there are many P-39 parts on the P-63