Original WWII Imperial Japanese Aircraft Heavy Bomber Propeller Blade – Sumitomo Metal Industries, 73¾″
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Original Item. Only One Available. This is an enormous nearly 74” tall Imperial Japanese Army Air Service propeller blade that almost certainly came off of a large Japanese Bomber, such as the Mitsubishi Ki-67 Hiryū, the Aichi D3A, or the Nakajima Ki-49. The propeller measures roughly 73¾” tall with a maximum width of roughly 11¾” and retains its original paint job, with two red stripes painted near the tip on one side, and the other side entirely painted red. Thankfully, due to its construction, the propeller blade sits straight up and steady on its own and will not require any convoluted display mount. From our research, our educated guess is that this propeller came off of a Mitsubishi Ki-67 Hiryuu Heavy Bomber. However, since propellers of this magnitude would have been designed to be interchangeable between several models of bomber, we cannot provide a solid identification.
The propeller retains its original maker’s label, which denotes it was manufactured by the Sumitomo Metal Industries Co., Ltd. Propeller Manufacturing Plant. There are six data sections for the screen number, Naoki, Standard spiral, wing number, Maximum number of rounds, and manufacturing date. Due to the heavy wear, we cannot really make out any of the numbers.
The Propeller Division of Sumitomo Metal Industries was a primary manufacturer of World War II propellers for the Japanese military, the other being musical instrument manufacturer Nippon Gakki Company (the modern day Yamaha Corporation). Sumitomo began manufacturing propellers in 1925, and acquired a license for both the Hamilton Standard constant-speed counterweight propeller and VDM products in the late 1930s as Japan continued its military expansion into China.
Along the bottom rim of the propeller are several markings including what are likely arsenal stampings. One marking is MFG- (TOYODA LOGO) K-10798 3. There is also another marking which is a drawing number: DWG-4EO-5025 0. Another marking is three arsenal markings next to a Kanji character followed by 88356 which may be the serial number.
The interior of the bottom of the propeller has several markings including 76012 - (2) and the Toyoda logo next to K-16645. This likely means that Toyoda manufactured some of the parts.
There are two loose rings over the base of the propeller that are not attached to anything and they do make a lot of noise when the propeller is being carried.
This outstanding artifact of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service comes ready to sit up and display as a centerpiece of your WWII Collection!
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