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? German wood prop construction


JackG

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Would they basically be same process, as say wooden Rotol props? Is there a metal sheath present on the leading edge (how important is this piece?) and if there was metal present, did war shortages affect this in later years?

Anything specific for the Dora prop - would be greatly appreciated.

regards,

Jack

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Is there a metal sheath present on the leading edge (how important is this piece?)

Absolutely crucially important.

Without a metal sheath on the leading edge, the life of a prop blade is potentially very short. By "very short" I mean that just flying through ordinary heavy rain can convert an unsheathed prop blade into a shapeless blunt club, incapable of turning horsepower into thrust, within maybe 10 or 12 minutes.

If you can guarantee that you will only fly in daytime visual meteorological conditions, and therefore know that you will never deliberately or inadvertently fly into precipitation, then an unsheathed wooden prop is OK and you will see them sometimes on small light aircraft. But to be honest it's silly not to have a sheathed leading edge: it's only a small part of the cost of a wooden prop blade.

In these modern times there are composite sheathing options too, but you know where you are with metal ;)

Edited by Work In Progress
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I've just taken a look in my Eagle-Editions Dora book vol 2 and there is no mention of metal sheaths being used on props VS111 or VS9. These props were 3.5 diameter, laminated and covered with an oilcloth material.

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Thanks for those responses, if anyone has more info to add, please do so.

In the posted link, a member gave this list of prop types:

VDM 9-12067 A : metal
VDM 9-12153 A : metal with external pitch weights
VDM 9-12176 A : wooden

Were they for the ground attack version, or the D-9 as well?

regards,

Jack

Edited by JackG
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Hi Jack, again taken from Vol 2 of the Eagle-Editions book,

Fw190 D-9 VS 111, solid propeller hub, part No 9-27011 A-4 .

Fw190 D-11 VS 9, hollow propeller hub, part No 9-27012, A-2 this blade had a clipped tip.

Fw190 D-13 VS 9, hollow propeller hub, part No 9-27012 C-1.

The VS designation refers to the complete propeller type including the hub, the part No just the blade.

VDM refers to the place where the propellers were manufactured, VDM Luftfahrtwerke AG. The blades were supplied by Gustav Schwarz K.-G. propellerwerk, Berlin. Also VDM were a main sub contractor for landing gear wheels.

The propellers were balanced at the factory and pre-painted in RLM70 and accompanied with strict instructions for the mandatory sequence for installation other wise the propeller would be out of balance.

Tim.

Edited by tank152
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