Wooden airscrews could be carved from laminated blanks or built from resin-coated veneers consolidated under heat and pressure. Conditioning and finishing could keep a blade in production for seven to twelve weeks, and final carving and balancing still required skilled hand work. Wooden blades could tolerate damage and be repaired, qualities useful to naval operators, but imperfect balance could introduce vibration or pitching. Metal alternatives promised greater precision, while later variable-pitch requirements changed the balance of advantages. Blackburn's manufacturing experience illustrates the technical limits of interwar propeller aircraft.
Notable Point · 24:10-29:14
Wooden propellers: durability against precision
Blackburn's experience making wooden airscrews shows the trade-off between repairable, damage-tolerant propellers and the precision of later alternatives.