Prop manufacture list
evansb ...Quote: " were taken in the early days of the Britannia's career. I don't see any examples of dissimilar props in later photos .... "
The picture of the BOAC Britannia above featuring mixed props is from May 1958, I wouldn't call that early in its carreer - if the 102 is included of course.
Brian Abraham
Thanks for the Brit prop info I thought they were made by Rotol as in the Hovercraft that also use the Proteus engine much later.
As regards to the B377 prop list, several blade options were apparently available for a given hub, some may have been tapered others square (?) explaining the difference but otherwise interchangable.
However a wing symetric arrangement must have been necessary to avoid differential torque problems (unless both blade types were equally effective at a given pitch and RPM )- In the case of the Britannia the 4 Proteus engines were intended to run synchronised to reduce vibration, although this was never achieved exactly I was told once, which explains the characteristic slow modulation (beat) in the sound of a Brit flying in the distance as the engines came in and out of phase.
Oh that Wispering Giant !