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Show . s ewvs, ?"v.'jj&-w.s&- Readied for Fu rthtrf Comb;1 By Hill Field ; Emp loy es In Maintenance Propeller Branch Pr-bp- s s s X SS HP s i. ? sXl ss - s sss-- s s By Larry Evans ' , ' , ; ' -s - A ' A o sX s - ss v - 'si. ' 's - X . C t v - - " . " " J S S sCCsO ss aj. s. mobile. Suppose you got halfway to Pike's Peak and found you couldn't shift into second or low gear. You'd just have to turn around and come back down again. Every time a whines out of a pilot of a 8 or a 1 commences and to climb back dive power up again, he must increase the R. P. M. so as to match the power of his engine he must shift into low. gear. Wood and his employes have been repairing propellers here since December, 1941. Before that they were repaired at the Salt Lake City airport. Wood, himself, has been here since May, 1941, at which time he transferred from Wright Field where he worked in the experimental department of the propeller shop. He's had over 11 years experience with props testing, repair, building, installation, and trouble-shootinWhen he first came here there were only four employes in the branch. Today there are 68. Of the four pioneers, three are still there: Ernest Sickinge, Glen Thomas and Harold Miller. The fourth, Sammy is now in the Navy. Their first productive month was April, 1942. Then these four employes plus Foreman Wood turned out 28 major overhauls on propellers. One year later, 1943, with two , 'I P-5- g. Mc-Doug- I 1 r - s s ' t all, - s ... rs jvF' rs i s ' ' cut time and material drastically. One of the most troublesome obstacles standing in the way of smoother operation and increased production was the lack of previous training on the part of practically every propeller worker. That stood in the way of setting up the depatment on an assembly line basis. The only thing to do was exactly what Wood did. He trained them himself and when you see the sureness and dexterity of his employes you can see that he did a pretty good job. PROPS COME BACK IN BAD SHAPE You'd be surprised to see the condition some propellers just returned from combat or otherwise can get in. Covered with deep scratches, bent, smeared with carbon and dirt, you'd wonder if they could be repaired at all. But they are: First thing is cleaning and disassembly. Raymond T. McNeil is supervisor of the disassembly unit. Here the prop is dismantled and the individual small parts of the hub dipped in special cleaning vats containing dissolving chemicals. This is an extremely important job, says Foreman Wood, because if the prop is not thoroughly cleaned before being further repaired other mechanics are faced with a messy job that will take much longer to do. When cleaning has been completed the various parts, all made of exceptionally high-graThis is a metal, are magna-fluxetest for flaws in the metal, cracks invisible to the eye but a menace to a pilot's life if not detected in the repair procedure. Meanwhile, the blades of the propeller have gone to the dural unit. Supervisor is Thaine S. Secrist. This is a place where precision work is at a premium. Here bent props are straightened, scratches are grinded out, blades are even cut down and transformed into different propellers entirely. When asked if there weren't quite a few mistakes occurring in this process in view . B-24- . . s de d. 1 I i.i,mu prop part. Next la row of propeller : rT" i uj, a i already to roar after the enemy again. At right, Stanley Pawner and Vora West, mechanic helpers, dismantle a propelior. If a dirty Job but apparently they don't mind. Propeller repair workers have oom through with many tlme-oaridevices that have added greatly to production. ng J slipped up. ,4I simply can't afford to 5 mistakes made here," he said emphatic? Huge hydraulic pressure machinest) the kinks out of a bent prop. Thesebla? are made of the finest, strongest metal u) industry is capable of making. EventJ some of them come in with the ends y double, just like a horseshoe. When one! them is too badly cut up and bent, due, J haps, to a crash landing, it may be cut do) and transformed into another type blade blade for another kind of plane. For I stance, one of the blades for a has damaged, may be changed into one for fighter plane. The pitch of the blades must be irum ume w uuxts iu compensate IOf an creased or decreased burden on the eni A delicate electric motor in the nose of prop furnishes the power for this chi Previously, when props were repaired mechanism was tested when final asaemr was completed. But this test did not ta into, consideration the tremendous pressu exerted on the blades while the plane is flight. This pressure puts a much great strain on the pitch motor, MORE VALID TEST By an ingenious contraption of han; weights this pressure is now simulated the ground and an infinitely more valid of the pitch motor obtained. It was first in operation just two weeks ago. Wood, gether with Lewis Joseph, Ernest Sic! and Lloyd Fisher were chiefly responsil for this invention. Other three units in the branch are line service unit, Robert A. Leatham, su visor; final assembly unit, Charles Weis, pervisor and rework unit, Albert To: . supervisor. Small parts of the propeller hub are do: paired in the rework unit. They must be carefully to insure the prop's functioning ficientlv after reassembly. Several worn are employed here and according to Forei on one shift. Most important is the fact that man-houper item of production or overhaul have been cut from 53 in July of last year to 23.4 as of last month. That represents a real saving 'and could not have been done without the invaluable aid of time-savin- g devices conceived by the mem bers of the branch; devices that have rninTTYl"' FF? PROP SHOP Bat these emTins IS TUB ploye don't need propping up. In the post year they've greatly reduced the number of man-houper propelior repaired, adovo in the picture to left, nonert Lnnen, aircraft propeller me chanic, bends to the task of checking propeller fust atralffhtened. In the next picture Beda Root, Junior aircraft mechanic, polUhea up a old ss Vs- , BASEBALL DIAMONDS, AND MUSIC CONSERVATORIES ARE NOT THE ONLY PLACES WHERE PITCH IS TO BE FOUND. YOU CAN FIND PLENTY OF IT IN THE PROPELLER BRANCH AT HILL FIELD LOCATED BETWEEN HANGARS THREE AND FOUR. "What the devil," you ask, "has pitch to do with a propeller?" If you asked that of the propeller branch's general, foreman, Roger R. Wood, former Wright Field propeller expert, he'd probably tell you that pitch on an airplane propeller is roughly the same thing as the gear system on an auto- i s ' , S, P-3- s - X s "' - ' ss TAR-PIT- , s s vxssssssssxsssssss:.; v v s si s;s i i' v etriff Mninmmiut. Trt said that his. blade men really know business, that they would get "burnt" if shifts, the branch turned out 92 tYininr overhauls With about 120 workers. Last month they produced 124 with only 68 employes operating ,if Wood are performing a super job. One and one ot best mechanics in the department A long, narrow pit, ten feet deep, is to test the balance of the blades. One be heavier than the other two or three. The next time vou see a plane wai and hear the deaf ud for the take-of- f roar of th nmna remember that th props are pulling our bambers and to victory. nlrJ ; r i-- l m' sj . |