Thrusting Forward: A History of the Propeller, 1984

Document Type: Book (Historical Study).

Purpose: Informational.

Authority: Author Expertise.

Scope(from Introduction): Illustrated introduction to the history of aircraft propellers, written by George Rosen, the chief of propeller research and development at Hamilton Standard before his retiremennt in 1977. "The aircraft propeller-with the clean, graceful lines of its blades and smooth, sculpted roundness of its spinner-looks like a simple mechanism. The simplicity of its appearance, however, is deceiving for the propeller embodies the highest sophistication in aerodynamics, mechanical engineering and structural design. Essentially a wing, the rotating propeller converts its ""lift"" into thrust. The propeller's rotation and the angle at which the blades strike the air control aircraft speed in all phases of flight while the engine's speed remains constant and the aircraft's speed and altitude vary. Varying, too, across the blade from hub to tip are the direction and velocity of the air flowing through the propeller."

Contents (From the Table of Contents): The Ancestors: Real and Imagined

The Era of Experimentation

The Wrights' Magnificent Obsession

World War I: Baptism of Fire Variable Pitch and Metal, Too The Coming of Age

Thousands Upon Thousands

Meeting Civilian Pent-Up Needs

The Propeller Turns Turbine Moving in New Directions