Mistaken Propeller Identity
This photograph has an interesting story. The double bladed propeller was described to be from Japanese Ki-43-I Oscar. It certainly looked like a Japanese propeller, plenty of wear and lying in the jungle. The story of this relic is a remind that assumptions can be quite wrong!

In fact this propeller is not from an Oscar, nor is it a WWII relic! Its off a DeHaviland "Dragon". These planes were flying out of Wewak before & after the war. Michael Claringbould identified it from the bolts. The Oscar's propeller was controlled from the cockpit by hydraulics, and on this one, they are fixed bolts, only modified on the ground.

The two sets of three drilled holes into the propeller. Claringbould reckons that this prop was on display at the Wewak Pilot's club into the 1960's, and locals grabbed it from there, or from the garbage when the place was torn down, etc. That is what the holes are from. They were drilled to put it on display above the bar!

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