DE H6 Propeller

[JRDale]

Hello,

I have a propeller that my father bought about 20 years ago at the Biggin Hill Air Fair.

It has the following markings:

D G 23770
D278
P330
HP 90 RAF
DE H 6
G395 N 7
49479

Can anyone give me some more information about this propeller and the aircraft it's from? Were many of them made? Is it worth a fortune?!

It's is very good condition.

Thank you for your help in advance.

Cheers,
James

[Jim]

23770, = manufacturer's drawing number
D278 = diameter of 2.78 m
P330 = pitch of 3.30m
HP 90 RAF = early version of the Royal Aircraft Factory engine 1a which later was improved to deliver 100hp.
G583 N 7 = batch 583, 7th prop of that batch
49479 = manufacturer's serial number of the prop

It would have been made about 1917 for a DeHaviland 6 which was designed as an elementary primary trainer. They were built as cheaply as possible.

As for it being valuable I wouldn't quit my day job. Of course it has value as does anything aviation related from the Great War, but the problem is that it is from an overly docile trainer and as such is not well known like the fighter and bomber aircraft and the Zeppelins, hence it is not high on most peoples' list of desireable propellers. Second it is huge and few people have big enough houses to display such a monster. And third, they made almost 2,300 DH-6 aircraft which means it is from a relatively highly produced aircraft so there were a relatively large number of propellers made compared to many other aircraft models.