Henry Lacy Smith

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...dy-estuary.html

They'll have that flying again in no time!

Thanks for the link, most interesting

The article mentions a "wooden propeller" ?? were wood props still in use in 1944 ?

Yep. I believe most Spitfire Mk.IXs used a Rotol 4-blade laminated wood prop.

Yeah, you cn see that all of the blades have been broken in half. A metal prop woould have bent back. Almost hurts to see that. But I agree...a new prop, a little bit of paint....

Duct tape will fix it.


Wheels

German planes used a lot of wooden props too during WW2. Advantages are pretty simple, it's an economy of strategic materials like aluminium, and in case of a crash landing, the propeller's breaking apart and less contraints are applied to the engine compared to a metal one, which will bend but still apply lots of forces on the mechanical parts.