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More Propeller
Division
Scans
The following photos
were found among Kirt's effects after his death and are
from his Flight Test days during World War II. Most were staged
photos
taken for company promotional purposes.
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Early 1930's vintage
Martin B-10-B. It was the Propeller
Division's first Flight Test bomber
obtained
around October, 1940. |
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Kirt logged many hours as
copilot
of this aircraft type, some perhaps in this
particular aircraft.
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Kirt and one of his test
pilots. I believe the aircraft is a
Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter. |
Kirt (standing) and test pilot Al Heller.
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Kirt (far right) with a
B-17 crew.
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Probably Kirt's Flight Test ground crew. Kirt is standing second from the right near the B-25. |
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Another promo photo taken in Kirt's control tower office with a B-25
in the background. |
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The first 5
panels below are from the March 1944 issue of the Bladesman, a Propeller
Division magazine, found among Kirt's effects. It talks about
de-icing tests which Kirt was then working on. The last panel is
from the July issue of a related company newspaper. (Click on the
panels to enlarge them.)
The following 6 photos were
taken by the author in May of 1990 at an air show in Breckenridge, TX.
The aircraft was one of only about 4 World War II era Republic P-47
Thunderbolt fighters still flying and is owned by the Confederate Air
Force flying museum. The Curtiss Electric propeller is not a
"reverse-pitch" model but is one which Kirt helped design and performed
extensive flight tests on.
I took the following 4 photos at the
Combat Air Museum in Topeka, Kansas in December of 1990. This
reversible-pitch Curtis Electric propeller flew on B-50 aircraft in the late
1940's and/or early 1950's. The B-50 was similar to the B-29 but with
larger engines.
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Combat Air
Museum display of a Curtiss Electric propeller and
engine from a P-40 Warhawk fighter. Kirt likely did
not work
on the design of this model as I believe it was already in
production at the time he went to work for Curtiss-Wright
in
1939. He may, however, have worked on later
refinements. |
A WWII era
Curtis Electric displayed hanging in a
Confederate Air Force Museum hanger in Midland,
TX in October of 2004. I'm not sure what aircraft
this propeller may have been from.
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