yaniv%mush.huji.ac.il@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (ran el-Yaniv) (08/11/90)
From: ran el-Yaniv <yaniv%mush.huji.ac.il@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Mea Culpa! There WERE wartime Spitfires with more than 3 propeller blades... Model XIV, two stage Griffon engine, 2,050hp Mk 65, five blades. yaniv
ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) (08/15/90)
From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) The last Spitfires with three blade props were the Mk. Vs with the single-stage Merlins. The Mk. VIIIs, IXs and XVIs with the two stage Merlins, and possibly the Mk. XIIs with the single-stage Griffons had four bladed props. Most Griffon equipped Spitfires had five blade props, the late model XXIVs and Seafire 47s had the dual three-blade (six total) contra-rotating props. The Spiteful (the first prototype had a Spitfire Mk. XIV fuselage) used a five blader. The hottest Mustang on the Unlimited racing circuit was the Red Baron, which was fitted with a two- stage Griffon and the contra-rotating props. It crash-landed in a field of boulders after engine failure. Incidentally, the Griffon turned the "wrong way", so the five bladed props were pitched in reverse. The same was true for the engine used in the Hawker Sea Fury. On takeoff, the pilot had to give full rudder in the opposite direction from "normal". Read Jeffrey Quill's book. He was Supermarine's test pilot.