Modern Wooden Propellers

Trying to find the airplane that wooden propeller may have been used on? The first step is to identify the most likely period of manufacture. Somewhat arbitrarily, wooden propellers may be divided into two periods: those made during and since the 1920's and those made prior to that time. Many propellers have characteristics, described here that help narrow down the likely time period in which they were produced.

As its name implies, this site is devoted to modern wooden airplane propellers, those manufactured from the 1920's to the end of WW-II. For information about older, earlier wooden propellers please refer to David Bahnson's excellent website on that topic at:

There were so many variations in the design and production of wooden propellers, it is nearly impossible to accurately identify one solely from its appearance. Most propellers will have some identifying information on them. The most useful of these is the drawing number, also often called the design number.

A number of propellers were built in the 1940's under military contract using the year of contract as the first two digits of the design number followed by the letter "K". If you are looking for a design number matching this criteria regardless of manufacturer, check this page: Military Design Numbers. Otherwise, continue below.

Pages on this website are arranged by the propeller manufacturer. Click on the manufacturer's name below to see a list of the design numbers to locate the possibilities.

Can't find what you're looking for? Click on the following underlined text to visit the Wooden Propeller Forum - the place to post your questions, do buying and selling, show off your prop and almost anything else that has to do with wooden propellers. The forum is moderated by Dave Bahnson at www.woodenpropeller.com, Bob Gardner at Aeroclocks and me at this site.

Finally, some reference books are available. These are excellent references published on CD and although pertaining mostly to World War I era wooden propellers the sections on care, stabilization, restoration and buying tips are alone worth more than the price. Includes abundant illustrations and references. Click on the picture below for details of each. Volumes 1 and 2 concentrate on British props. More volumes will be available in the future.

A hard cover book is now available too. Click on the Aeroclocks link above for more information.

Can you document additional information not available here? Please send me an email by clicking the Email Me Here link below. Please either use the email link below or include "wooden propeller" in your subject line. Otherwise, I will not see your message.

Many thanks to David Bahnson for his prolific help and contributions to this site. Without him this site would not be possible.