An image of my finished Wright Flyer

Looks great. One quick question: Why are the wooden props silver?

WmB

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From what I was able to learn about that are two explanations.

1. The Wrights were trying to hide information from the public and press about their airplane, so in-order to mislead them they painted the props with an aluminum dope. So that anyone trying to find out what the plane was made of would guess that the props were metal instead of wood.

I have no idea if this is really true or if it even worked for them, but that is theory 1.

1. They were quite the photographers and wanted to make sure that they got pictures of the props turning. So, in hopes of catching reflections of light off the props they painted the wooden props with aluminum paint.

Again, I don't know if this was really true or not,

I do know that the original props flown on Dec. 17th, 1903 were covered with a silver looking paint. I saw what was left of one of those two props at the National Air & Space museum about 2 months ago. The replica props that are displayed on the 1903 Flyer are also painted silver.

Hope this answers your question and thanks for the comments,

Francis Marion

Cool. I probably should have added that I didn't think it was an oversight on your part but was done for a specific reason (as cited above). These are the little details that I like to see pop up on model kits. Things that challenge the expected and the established norms.

Thanks,

WmB

your part but

that I like to

Yes, and thx from me too. Great to read about trivia like that. Never heard of any of it.

Craig

Most rightous looking build...VERY nice. Post more.

I have recently been discussing this on the aviation history mailing list.

The final answer is no one really knows if original flyer props were aluminum painted or not. They definitely painted 1908 military flyers aluminum, so some photos of restored flyer may show it with a 1908 prop.

The reason for painting things with aluminum dope is to prevent UV deterioration when aircraft is exposed to direct sunlight for lengthy periods. Since the original flyer was not intended to last very long, I and others believe they simply varnished original flyer props, and any photos showing aluminum-painted ones are with replacement props (original props did not survive beyond 1903). Fabric of those days deteriorated rapidly, wood less so. It became very common to 'prime' aircraft with aluminum paint, with color paint over aluminum, since not all colors stop UV well, but aluminum definitely does. Even today it is normal for a coat of aluminum dope under colored finish of wood and fabric or tube and fabric planes.

Recent TV programs and articles >

Don:

Good to hear from you, I sent you some wing plans for your model several weeks ago. Hope your model is coming along.

Interesting, your comments about the Wright props.

Are you then assuming that the battered prop on display at the Smithsonian, that is described as one of the original 1903 props, is really not an original, or has been altered at a later time? Because it is definitely painted silver. I went there to see if I could resolve this issue and I would say that the evidence I saw would support a silver finish on the prop.

Of course, it is possible that it isn't one of the original props.

The UV theory is reasonable, however I can't imagine that would have been a reason for the Wrights to have painted their props.

I took a couple of pictures of it if you'd like to see them.

Good day, Francis Marion

I must have misunderstood what they said on the Wright Experience show on DWings a few months back. I could have sworn that they said the propellers were the originals. These would be the ones they loaned out and allowed the guy to shave some off the backside so that he could figure out what size tool had been used to form them. At the time I thought that was kind of unnecessary where your eyeballs should be good enough to tell you that much, but woodworking isn't my strong suit to say the least.

WmB

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