Tests of Five Metal Model Propellers with Various Pitch Distributions in a Free Wind Stream and in Combination with Model VE-7 Fuselage

This report describes the tests of five adjustable blade metal model propellers both in a free wind stream and in combination with a model fuselage with stub wings. The propellers are of the same form and cross section but have variations in radial distributions of pitch. By making a survey of the radial distribution of air velocity through the propeller plane of the model fuselage it was found that this velocity varies from zero at the hub center to approximately free stream velocity at the blade tip. The tests show that the efficiency of a propeller when operating in the presence of the airplane is, over the working range, generally less than when operating in a free wind stream, but that a propeller with a radial distribution of pitch of the same nature as the radial distribution of air velocity through the propeller plane suffers the smallest loss in efficiency.