# WWII AIRPLANE PROPELLER DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND TYPES INSTRUCTIONAL FILM 32824

“Airplane Propellers: Principles and Types” is a “restricted” World War II-era US War Department training film produced by the Signal Corps in collaboration with the Chief of the Air Corps. The film opens with a statement at mark 00:44 that “until the days of supersonic speed and jet propulsion of rocketships, the propeller is a relatively efficient method of moving our airplanes through the air.” A propeller size is dependent on the size of the engine, we’re told at mark 01:06 , and we learn of the different uses for two-blade, three-blade, and four-blade propellers before being given a detailed tutorial on airfoil principles, including propeller velocity and airplane velocity, starting at mark 02:06 . As it continues, the narrator explains the importance of the blade path and an aircraft’s angle of attack, and at mark 06:49 discusses a fixed pitch propeller and looks at the Hamilton Standard constant speed propeller at mark 09:35 , and Hamilton hydromatic propellers that are used on larger, twin-engine aircraft (mark 10:35 ). We explore a Curtiss electric propeller at mark 12:05 before examininglng newer designs (mark 13:13 ). Various topics are summarized for the viewer starting at mark 14:55 . As seen in this film, rapid development of aircraft design in the 1930s required many related innovations, including propeller design. The hydromatic propeller by Hamilton Standard marked a significant advance over the counterweight-type, controllable pitch propeller. It played a…

- Kind: Educational
- Genres: War, Education, Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/32824AirplanePropellers)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/32824AirplanePropellers?play=1)