Full Scale Tests of Wood Propellers on a VE-7 Airplane in the Propeller Research Tunnel

The investigation described in this report was made primarily to afford a comparison between propeller tests in the new propeller research tunnel and flight tests and small model tests on propellers. Three wood propellers which had been previously tested in flight on a VE-7 airplane, and of which models had also been tested in a wind tunnel, were tested again on a VE-7 airplane in the propeller research tunnel. The results of these tests are in fair agreement with those of the flight and model tests. Tests were also made with the tail surfaces removed, and with both the wing and tail surfaces removed. It was found that the effect of the tail surfaces on the propeller characteristics was negligible, but that the wings reduced the maximum propulsive efficiency about 5 percent. (author)