Evening star., 1941-05-07
Propeller Production
Shortage Viewed
As Temporary
No Overall Lack of
Blades, Soys O. P. M.;
Some PIones Tied Up
By JOSEPH 8. EDGERTON.

Nver1es OF at least two types OF
built fighting planes, one
Of them under construction both for
tho British and the United States.
Although they admitted that pro-
peller shortages are holding up the
delivery Of P-39 Bell Airacobra pur-
suit airplanes and Martin B-26 me-
dunn bombers and possibly other
types Of airplanes, officials OF the
Office Of Production Management
said they do not regard these short
ages as very serious or more than
temporary.
There is no overall" shortage Of
propellers for the aircraft industry
as a whole, they said, despite tenn
porary shortages of certain special
types which will be made good when
production schedules are evened out.
It is said that propeller shortages
have been felt for some months at
the Bell plant in Buffalo, N. Y,
while the lack of propellers first
was reported as an obstacle to Mar
tin production about month ago.
Strike Factor Causes Concern.
Although Federal production off,
cials expressed optimism over the
general state Of the highly special
lied propeller industry there is said
to be some concern over the effects
of strikes In the steel industry, par
ticularly in the production Of vana-
dunn steel, on the production Of pro-
pellers in the near future.
"Very considerable" addition ex-
pansion Of the propeller factories
has been undertaken with lease
lend funds, 1t was pointed out by O..
p. M. chiefs. While virtually all OF
the propeller production for war
plane use has been concentrated in
the plants Of the Curtiss-Wright
Corp. at Caldwell, N. j., and the
Hamilton standard propeller divi-
sion of United Aircraft Corp. at
Hartford, Conn, other plants, sew
eral OF them branches of these two
parent organizations, now are COM
lllS llllO otuSC'
An entirely new propeller plant Of
the aeroproducts division of Cen
eral Motors Corp. Is nearing compile
ton at Dayton, Ohio, and is sched-
uled to begin production in July.
General Motors acquired the pro-
peller business Of Engineering Prod
ucts, Inc, which had been working
on the development of a hydrauli-
cally pitched airplane propeller for
several years, in June Of last year
Although General Motors originally
had anticipated that three years
would be required before it could
begin real propeller production, de-
velopment work was tremendously
intensified because of the emer-
eency, and propeller recently
passed Army tests.
Plant to Specialize.
Although this plant, with some
$4,000 square feet of floor space
under construction, has not yet
been completed. negotiations have
been under way with the Govern
ment looking toward an increase of
more than 100 per cent in size of
the initial plant The factory will
specialize In propellers for high
horsepower engines.
Curtiss Wright. with propeller
plants under construction at Beaver
Borough, near Pittsburgh. and at
indianapolis. and additional facil-
tiles being built at Caldwell and
Clifton, N. j., will have 1,415,000
square feet of propeller plant space
and more than $4,000 workers en-
ployed when the present program
Is completed.
Hamilton Standard. also estab-
lished in new plant space in Con-
necticut. will by July l have pro-
duction rate approximately 10 times
greater than the average for 1888.
o. P. M. officials said there IS no
need for holding any large numbers
of airplanes at factories for lack OF
propellers, as Is reported to be the
case at Buffalo. They said that less
efficient propellers could be installed
temporarily to permit delivery Of
the airplanes to Army airdromes or
shipping points pending delivery Of
the special propellers designed for
that particular airplane-engine COM
bination.
Shortage in Airplane Guns.
The propeller for the Bell
Airacobra. it was pointed out, is a
highly specialized type with hollow
hub through which a 37-millimeter
airplane cannon Is fired. Solid hub
propellers can be used to fly the
Airacobra before the gun is Installed.
1t was pointed out.
There also Is an inadequate sup
ply Of airplane shell-firing cannon
and new pursuit and interceptor air
planes are being delivered without
guns, among them, again, the
Airacobra. No date has been set for
attaining an adequate rate OF pro-
duction Of the new types OF airplane
cannon, on which several factories
are working, according to Q. P. M.
officials.
The average cost of the modern
airplane propeller is between $4,000
and $4,000, according to o. P. M.
officials and about half Of the total
number produced are three-bladed
types. All of the larger propellers
are Of hollow steel blade construc-
ton, smaller types being generally
of forged duralumin.
Reports received by the Aero
nautical Chamber Of Commerce in
dicate that 1000 propellers month
now are being produced by Hamilton
and the plant is we'll ahead of its
propeller production schedules. The
production is we'll ahead of engine
production, now estimated to be
1900 month, at the United Aircraft
Pratt e. Whitney engine plant.
Airplane propeller production
however, has been No. l on the
Army's list Of critical items for
some time and probably will remain
there until new plant capacity is put
into production, probably during