Wooden propeller in Fw 190 D and others

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Romani
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Wooden propeller in Fw 190 D and others

#1

Post by Romani » 29 Dec 2007, 20:51

I have found recently that the Dora had a wooden propeller, was this a materials saving measure as the wooden tails of Bf109s? Was a compromise solution because there was no time to make tools to machine propellers of that wide paddle shape? Or it was a deliberate design choice to save weight?

I only ask because i saw a recovered wreck of a bomber at a British museum, I think it was a Lancaster and was recovered from a fjord in Norway and seemed like it had wooden propellers, splintered and broken like in that photo, I thought it was a creative license to display the airplane, but now i am in doubt at wether that bomber had wooden props to increase range and ceiling by saving weight.

JodelFlieger
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#2

Post by JodelFlieger » 30 Dec 2007, 05:16

hi there
Often wooden props were/are used to get the Centre of Gravity within limits, ie, if a metal prop would bring the C of G out of limits.Sometimes, it was simply a matter of availability of production capacity and a desire to save alloys for more vital production.
regards
JF


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Erich
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#3

Post by Erich » 01 Jan 2008, 19:48

wooden props were used on the Fw 190A-8 and A-9 at the pilots request enabling the a/c to have more power than metal

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phylo_roadking
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#4

Post by phylo_roadking » 01 Jan 2008, 21:49

Laminated wooden propellors were, in certain shapes, curves and pitches - intrinsically stronger than shaped tubular metal, allowing higher revolutions and airspeeds...very much like carbon fibre blades recently. The downside is they take longer to produce - correct woods need to be selected, seasoned, laminated, formed by soaking and tensioning and finally shaped.

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Mark in Cleveland, Tn.
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#5

Post by Mark in Cleveland, Tn. » 02 Jan 2008, 00:13

I know through my helping restore a mid 1930's me 108
that wooden props were used. The one i helped restore for the CAF had a black varnished wooden prop, and also had a metal one in a replacement crate.
The me 108 was a very simple aircraft. I was amazed at the ease of construction.. solid, but very simple.
The hardest part of the restoration was the refabrication of the windscreen(canopy) front.. Maybe I will post a thread on what we went through, and the simple but time consuming way in which we made an all new one from stratch!!!! so to speak

JodelFlieger
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#6

Post by JodelFlieger » 04 Jan 2008, 19:09

Hello there
Wooden propellors and other wooden parts, such as the tails of late-model 109s were often built by the furniture industry and not just dedicated aircraft factories. Metal props took longer to machine, heat-treat and repair and required much greater industrial capacity, which is still the case today.
regards
JF

Kurfürst
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#7

Post by Kurfürst » 06 Jan 2008, 16:18

Wooden propellors were widely used on WW2 fighters, the reason was a technical/design consideration, rather than to save a minimum amount of material. Spitfire IXs for example also used wooden propellors. I guess the prime reason was weight/centre of gravity issues, rather than any other. Wooden propellers also have an advantage that if they hit the ground, they break and probably won`t wreck the engine internals so badly... the downside is, like all wooden parts, they are far more sensitive to weather and humidity.

The wooden tails of 109s weren`t either some material saving issue, it was just that the tails themselves were not very sensitive parts, and wooden units could be made elsewhere using the woodworking industry, and so metalworking industry is freed up in capacity.

willerving
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Russian Yaks also had wood and steel propellers

#8

Post by willerving » 09 Feb 2008, 06:27

From the 1940's right up to the 1980's

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Topspeed
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Re: Wooden propeller in Fw 190 D and others

#9

Post by Topspeed » 21 Jan 2017, 14:49

Also the FW 154 was entirely out of wood. Wood epoxies are nowadays stronger so in fact you could make better aeroplanes outa wood than metal...far better....and simpler to make than carbon..and cheaper. Weldwood, Duramold etc were in use in 30Iies, but no good epoxies were at hand.
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Topspeed
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Re:

#10

Post by Topspeed » 21 Jan 2017, 14:56

phylo_roadking wrote:Laminated wooden propellors were, in certain shapes, curves and pitches - intrinsically stronger than shaped tubular metal, allowing higher revolutions and airspeeds...very much like carbon fibre blades recently. The downside is they take longer to produce - correct woods need to be selected, seasoned, laminated, formed by soaking and tensioning and finally shaped.
Staypak and compreg are the procedures to make 4 x stronger woodcomposite as aluminium. The pressure in such press is enermous and heat so it is not easy. It no longer sucks water like wood after that treatment. You can make it outa practically any wood...even low density pine can be pressed beyond the density of Duramold of the colonel Clark at the Hughes Aircraft Company with todays epoxies.

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