WW2 Airplane Propeller Piece Find - ID Help?

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• terminal99
• estate
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• fighter
• plane
• ww2
• world
• war
• two
• bomber

[queenofyeay]

Or a trophy for bringing in a damaged/mechanically troubled plane and getting it on the ground without dying. Perhaps an overshot runway, for lack of brakes or a collapsed landing gear after touchdown. Hard to say for certain, BUT clearly this was a memento of military service. I don't know how equipped the local colleges are but one must have the ability to date the paint on the prop

[terminal99]

@queenofyeay Thanks for all the great help with the piece. I would love to know the story behind it. Will

[TheNinjaPicker]

As a former airfield firefighter I can tell you when the wheels are up the prop gets bent up and the engine gets tore up. The props bend back, can you tell if it was cut off? I have never seen parts of a prop fall off. Having said all that I have a feeling it might be from a single engine plane maybe a fighter. I will look around

[terminal99]

@TheNinjaPicker Thanks for the help! It would be neat to have a piece of a P-51. Will

[johnr316]

Judging from the angle of the gouges, I'd say that plane went down hard.

[terminal99]

@johnr316 I think you're right. Will

[queenofyeay]

Looking at the curvature of the scratches It is easy to gauge that the impact of the blade had to be plunging vertically into dirt. Sometimes in training, recruits were known to hit the brakes too hard and stuff the nose of the trainer into the ground. Often enough, embarrassing trophies would be awarded for wrecking a perfectly good airplane in aviation, like say... when wandering onto the verge and accidentally pranging a prop.

[queenofyeay]

Y'know, being a person who loves WWII aviation, after I have thought about it. I think there is a bunch you can tell about this prop tip. First of all it seems obvious the prop was spinning... BUT the groundspeed of the plane was low (taxiing maybe), because the prop tip was not bent backwards and there is still paint on it ... I'd have to say it was probably either a dirt/grass runway it hit or the dirt verge of a paved one.

[terminal99]

@pfcwar5150 I could not find out anything other than he served in WW2. Will

[terminal99]

@GrizzlyGroundswell Thanks, Will

[terminal99]

@evanl100 That's a good thought. The imagination can run wild thinking of all the possible stories. Too bad we will never know the truth. Will

[evanl100]

Probably a trophy, a piece of the propeller from the first plane him and his buddies shot down.