B-17 PROPELLER INSTALLATION WWII U.S. ARMY AIR FORCES TRAINING FILM FLYING FORTRESS 92464
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Dating to 1944, this War Department training film "B-17 Propeller Installation" was created in cooperation with Boeing Aircraft. The film was intended for education of crew chiefs and ground maintenance crew, who might have to replace propellers in the field. The type of propeller that is shown being installed is a three-bladed, hydromatic, WEE50-473 or 505, full feathering prop made by Hamilton Standard. Hub: 23E50-473. Blade: 6477A-6. Diam.: 11 ft. 7 in.
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances, becoming the third-most produced bomber of all time.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFi...
Maintenance crews are some of the unsung heroes of all military branches during wartime or during peacetime.
@Analog Human That is what I said. Maintenance personnel do their jobs for the most part in total obscurity which is probabely o.k. with them. Where would the war effort be without the maintenance crews?
@@douglasharp2278 I think he's ragging on your spelling ability ! Something I see a lot of, but don't personally don't give a damn about ! We got what you were trying to say!
@@sumbeech1484 Spelling police?
Just in time...I was just telling the wife that we needs new props on the old b-17
that is funny
You're still flying a B17?We switched to the B36 ages ago!
@@burtbacarach5034ooooh look at mr. Big bucks...he can afford a b_36
Make sure your bank book is packed.
Costco has good sales on them from time to time
What I find more amazing are the minds that thought about all those parts fitting together and why they had to be made that way......It's just amazing.
Even more amazing…it was done with slide rules and blue prints…none of that CAD stuff.
@@DogRedful ....I wonder if those parts were designed on top of previous designs or were they totally new.
And every part had an individual drawing made by a draftsman in addition to the drawings of the complete assembly and sub assemblies. There was a whole lot of wood, graphite, ink and paper behind all those metal parts.
@@humbertothebeliever2443 that's exactly how equipment gets designed. It's based off previous designs and parts. It wasn't pulled out of thin air.
@@holdendavid9025 .....Got it.
I really enjoyed watching this. My dad was a B-17 prop mechanic in WWII. I had no idea how complex the prop mechanisms were. It give me a new appreciation for what he did during the war.
So was my grandfather. Clarence, "Mac" McMahon.306th Bomber squadron.
My Uncle "Wild" Bill was a bombardier on a B-17. He made it home thanks to mechanics like your father!
This is fascinating. And all of this was designed using slide rules and drafting boards. Thanks for sharing.
1:26 Solvent face bath, Herb? Coming right up!
LOL! I hadn't seen that! Ouch!!
Nice catch ✌✌
I remember quite a few years ago, seeing a mechanic demonstrate the incredibly-precise balance of the props on these big radials: He placed a paper match book over one of the blades, and the prop ever so slowly turned until that blade was down, towards the earth. One or two ounces of imbalance on a prop blade that long, at those RPMs, could be fatal to the engine (and of course, the crew).
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Amazingly complex. Imagine performing these jobs in harsh conditions during combat situations.
These older training films have far better narration and camera direction than today's training videos.
That assembly has more rings than a Las Vegas wedding chapel ! Amazing engineering and machining.
Das ist Präzisionsarbeit vom Feinsten.👍👍👍😃😃😃😃😃😃😃 Viele Grüße aus Germany
Wow, what a complicated but yet sophisticated machine. Props (no pun intended) to all who made it's performance and operation possible.
Can you imagine doing that work in combat conditions in somewhere like North Africa with all the blowing dust
@@treimers95 Oh man, aircraft maintenance can be a pain even in the best conditions. The closest I ever came to that dust experience was when a bunch of us college fraternity brothers drove up to Astoria, OR to have a beach barbecue. It was kind of windy, but not terrible. As we were grilling the burgers, one of the guys put a piece of cheese on his just before it was done. Within seconds that cheese was completely covered in sand. The burgers were crunchy, and not in a good way, so we gave up and went to Burger King. So yeah, I know exactly how our troops felt in north Africa and other sandy places. I have a medal for my suffering around here somewhere...
@@jimheimerl1637 I once got caught in a sandstorm in AZ visiting the River with some friends and it stripped the paint off my classic car!
@@jaminova_1969 Well, that's suboptimal! Then again, uh, you, uh, wanted to repaint it anyway, right?
@@jaminova_1969 That is suboptimal! You, uh, were planning on repainting it anyway, right?
Wow…Those mechanics were an incredibly awesome team back then. Also impressed with the behind the scenes of all the factory machinists and tradesmen who had no digital and CNC equipment and could hold those tight tolerances. Very cool…
They actually had to work back then!
There’s still airmen changing props on C-130s today.
All designed with slide rules , pencil and paper
Geez, no PPE equipment used. In the 70's we used tricochorloline (a.k.a. Trico) for degreasing C-130's. Trico is a halocarbon used since 1920 and classified as a cancer
causing agent in 1981. Service Master was the replacement and useless. It left an oily surface and would strip fresh zinc chromate coatings. These earlier mechanics had ethics
and talent. They were worried more about death caused by wartime. Great documents. Thanks.
No gloves. It went right into the skin
@@chemistryinstruments7156 Yep, fortunately the body chemistry maintained its delicate balance by the careful introduction of whiskey and Lucky Strikes.
...I can dig it...at Sikorsky WPB (1990s) we used MEK to clean the surface underneath the special air hardening caulking that sealed the fuel tanks of the S-76 - when manufacturing was returned to the main plant in Stratford they didn't use MEK (for the same reason) and the customer complained of leakage in those same tanks - they were sent back to WPB for repair...and yes we used that same MEK but first we had to completely strip the tanks of the old sealant - a very nasty job - required the techs getting into those tank that still reeked of JP4 ( a real bitch of a job in the oppressive Florida summer weather in an non climate controlled open hangar - but we did the job - the company lost money because of 'climate/environmental politics' the work was done on the company dime - still Stratford wouldn't listen...
@@mohammedcohen Greetings friend. I am fully with you. Reminds me of
a quote: “We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, with so little, for so long, we are now qualified to do anything, with nothing.” ― Mother Teresa.
You did your job right and the Flight Crew thanks you because they were safer because of you. The so-called management teams are clueless of
correct procedures and should be hanged for endangering the Flight Crews safety. Keep safe brother.
My father worked on them during the war at Curtis Wright and in England at air fields he always said they used mineral sprits to clean parts and the really cruder up stuff they used gasoline and a scrub brush first outdoors of course weather permitting I have a A@P but have never used it got it in high school at emery in Miami I always looked at aviation as a hobby and not a career to my engineer fathers disdain too much government involved .
Our Air Crews did a Great Job keeping our aircraft flying .
The aircrews don’t do this sort of stuff…it’s done by the largely invisible ground maintenance crew.
P.S. I’m retired USAF flight engineer.
You guys in maintenance are simply incredible for the job you do to keep it all going.
I changed props a the Lockheed Electra L-188 a few times as a young airline mechanic in the early-1970s. The most difficult part was freeing the old prop from its aft cone as it would hang up. Using a prop blade like a lever two mechanics would rock the prop fore and aft until it freed. It was quite a physical undertaking. When hanging the new prop, the hold down nut was torqued to 2000 ft/lbs using a torque multiplier. Jets are easier.😉
I'm sure glad I found this film before I fitted all 4 of my propellers!
I've been meaning to replace the props on my B-17 but didn't know how. Thank you for providing this great tutorial.
I hope you have a B-17
@@lagumlemoni331 got 3 of them. 😎
@@yakbreeder can I borrow one for no particular reason 👁👃👁
@@lagumlemoni331 ya got a hot date Saturday night?
I was an Air Force prop mechanic from 1968-76. Some of my work was done on recips (C-54, C-47) but the vast majority of my experience was on C- 130B and E models. Many years have gone by, but this brought back a lot memories for me!
I was in the 380th bomb wing --- KC135's & FB111's ! SAC and Lemay fo' eva !
I’m very impressed with this film. The man hours to design and build the intricate parts, then put them all together to win a war against fascism. A great video, thanks for posting.
Worked on Hamilton Standards, Curtiss Electric and Aeroprops for 25 years.
Love it!
just love these black and white days...
Great instruction video. The real thing! No stupid animations. No unnecessary fun. They explain the why of every action.
Reminds me of a flying school in the Netherlands. The owner had many American instruction films from the airforce.
All from the sixties. Great material. If the weather did not allow flying they showed a few.
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Fascinating video. Imagine doing that job during the war in the English winter!
This propulsion machining work is astounding. I was a machinist starting 2 days out of high school. During my time, I went from manual lathes and mills to full tilt CNC 4 axis machining centers, using computers to program a toolpath. I am in awe that the WW2 machinists could mass produce the gears, splines, and engines required just using technologically simple manual lathes and mills. One moments in-attention will scrap the part you may have spent days machining. This was truly the Greatest Generation. The ability to build better aircraft, fighters and bombers than Germany, primarily won WW2. Study the complexity of the Merlin engines, and you will understand what an accomplishment it was.
one thing he forgets, is that the oil on the nut also alows for a friction free rotation, so the torque applied by a torque wrench later is ACCURATE, not the resistance of the threads, but the squeeze on the assembly, but also this oil aids in removal next time, preventing rust on the parts as they are running.
what torque wrench? just a big bar. days when engineers worked on feel fella
@@garethmayfield4014 Every prop assembled was done by that same guy....he was very busy....his weight was certified !
I remember watching this exact same movie in tech school.
Love how their solvent cleaning parts outdoors, no PPE, and just , getting to work...
This is great. I love the one sergeants stripes that look to be painted on his coveralls. I also think it's funny when at 3:58 the one guy says "Packing ring sir" There is NO WAY a sergeant would ever allow an enlisted man to call him sir. That guy would be met with a sharp rebuke of "Don't call me sir, I work for a living!"
I don't know why but these are very intresting to watch
Amazing piece of machinery. Same goes for the Maintenance crews.
Awesome! Now I can fix that old b-17 that's sitting in my backyard!
when i was in A&P school in the early 90's some of our training videos were from WW2. One particular i can remember was a sheet metal repair patch.
When you consider at that time... It was amazing engineering . Even today so many countries have not been reached that level of kind engineering. So when big countries would have been mentioned, meant that have been emphisezed big engineering with private companies. Congratulations...
Thanks. This the sort of home DIY video that I need in my life.
Having watched this, I feel that I am quite capable to take on a prop job the next time I am given the care of a B17.
Ah, the "before times", when we just sprayed nasty solvents around in the open with no containment or PPE.
Prob'ly was *carbon tetrachloride* in the sprayer. A great solvent, but not so good for humans..
@@gary6449 Or MEK or avgas.
That's why after the war, so many military installations got classified as clean up sites. Even pre-EPA regulations were waived on military bases. If you didn't turn purple and drop dead within 48 hours, you were considered to be OK. (No, really! There were rocket propellants they developed after the war that would do that!)
In '44, [Hughes] Air Force Plant # 44 [now Raytheon] at Tucson International Airport was tasked with removing the Olive Drab over Grey camouflage paint from B-24 bombers. As the USAAF had air superiority, the natural aluminum finish had better visibility, less weight from paint, and much lower drag. Unfortunately, they used a high pressure spray of trichloroethylene [TCE] to strip the paint. This percolated down to contaminate the ground water. Tucson city water has had problem with TCE in later years.
Back then a properly calibrated torque wrench was a 180lbs mech hanging from a breaker bar. But, they got the job done.
Don't forget the 4 hammer taps........
And wait until the mech said "click".
This’ll come in handy when I service my B-17 later
Aw man! I’ve been installing B-17 propellers wrong all this time!
That's going to save me a lot of time when I next rehang a propeller on my B-17.
These films were done by experts on the item and checked by other experts to give directions to people who had never seen it before. They would then be checked by many people trying to find fault with it. Also ANYONE in the field that found a problem with the directions OR another easier way to do it could send that in to be reviewed and added/changed, as needed, to make it better.
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I joined the military to be a aircraft mechanic , I wish I was alive back then to work on these aircraft
Well, maybe. But it sure seems rushed and vague. No torque values. No checklists. I expected better.
Sure wish that these films were digitized and the audio cleared up-(non distorted). Very good history and instructional. A very nice & powerful spray cleaner. You can't get any better instruction that this.
@notfiveo I say it would
Spoiled? Not digitized original footage is the point!
This film and accompanying audio was scanned on a $150,000 film scanner. It is presented more or less exactly as it would have been seen by maintenance staff in the field during WWII -- although some would argue it looks and sounds better than what they would have seen and heard. At Periscope Film, we don't believe is using additional digital gimmickry to "enhance" historic footage -- we don't colorize, and we don't motion blur. Of course, TH-cam does its own things to our material in terms of compression!
All that hurtsNn.
Leave original, it's historic
Now I know how to install a propeller assembly! Seriously I'm impressed with the quality and precision need to assembly the parts. I love those documentaries and it is always a pleasure for me to watch, thanks for sharing this very interesting video. Honestly I wouldn't mind having a brand new B-17 in my hangar. Lol...
My pop did that [and every other B-17 crew chief task] for four years starting in the UK, moving to Tunisia and finally in Foggia Italy.
The Greatest Generation in my humble opinion.
My dad was an aircraft mechanic in WWII in Europe. Pretty sure he knew how to do this.
Great tutorial guys, I was stuck in the hangar for 3 hours before I saw this.
All those beautifully machined parts… all made without computers Wow
Think of al the planning, engineering and machining that went into just this part of the airplane. Imagine the rest. It's almost incredible that this is from some 80 years ago.
Great Video , worth watching every minute of it
Now , Even more impressed with ths B 17
Incredible piece of machinery
Those round hubs on the front are prop pitch rotors. These motors are used today by radio amateurs for turning large antenna arrays and towers. i have four of them here.
Sharing this valuable History of our USA 🇺🇸 and Family History and friends like H. C. “ Kit “ Carson B - 17 test pilot 👨✈️
Doing such incredible Maintenace in the field, wonderful to appreciate.
Just like we did on DC-3s back in the day.
Didn't you have Hydromatics on your DC-3s? And these are? Curtiss Electrics?
I’m ready! Let’s put another one on… 🍺
A bit more involved than your ceiling fan. Films such as this should help keep the few warbirds flying. 😮😊
Ole Ott sure got around.
More complicated than i thought....
I love these old training films. I joined the Air Force in 76 and of course 30 plus years after this but we still had a lot of training films . I miss those days.
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Imagine doing this on a cold winter's night in England during wartime.
Now imagine doing this under the tropical sun in a place like New Guinea while trying to shake off the effects of your last malaria attack. Quite likely some of the parts are salvaged from a wreck.
Outstanding shipmate. Press on. USS Kitty Hawk CV-63. Jan 1980 to July 1983.
That’s why they’re known as the greatest generation.
Imagine doing this job knowing that the lives of ten men depend on you not screwing up the smallest detail.
Had to see this, because have seen the props apart for this kind of maintenance on Sentimental Journey (B-17G) at CAF Airbase Arizona, but didn’t actually see the assembly procedure.
Great historical film! Makes you wonder how the mechanics could do this under combat conditions! 😮🇺🇸😁
I am a constantly amazed to see how complicated so-called "old tech" actually was, and awe stuck by the sophisticated engineering revealed in these films. I know that the techs of that time, would have little in the way of skills applicable to modern aircraft. But our techs would be just as ill-equipped to work on vintage planes. Vintage restorers have said how little that modern aircraft construction has in common with war birds, in spite of seeming just as complex in itself.
The narrator referred to torque settings of the various components, but there was not a torque wrench to be seen, although there were a variety of specialized tools for the task at hand. Given the investment in the plane and the importance of the job being done properly, I'm surprised that they didn't have torque wrenches on site for precise settings.
yeah they shoulda put in a click sound when the right torque was hit.
Imagine doing this in a sandy field on a windy day. Those .005 brass shims blowing around in the wind, having to stop and redo things over and over because sand keeps getting into it. What a pain.
Thank you for sharing!
Thanks this helped me get the prop on the B-17 I bought off of Craigslist, that Mel he is a hell of a mechanic
Am I the only one that realized that “Mal” was the voice of Bugs Bunny…and 100’s of other cartoons characters!!!!
That spray cleaner was probably Trichloroethylene!! Mmmmm! Tasty!
I volunteered off and on at the Museum of Flight in Seattle helping with restoration and mechanicing. I was always amazed and enjoyed working on these engines.
Do that a few hundred times and you're an expert.
Power plant memories from A and P school.
A little varsol in the eyes at 1:27, lol. Different times indeed.
Learned quite a bit about the mechanism.
Changed numerous props and engines like this on the T-28s in Corpus Christi, TX. Never knew the real name of the oil distributor shaft until now. I was always taught it was the “donkey dick.” :)
I was there in 76, handed out small parts for the T-28s. AIMD
Handy video...had trouble installing the prop last weekend on my '17.
This was my father's job during the war.
Surprisingly complex design.
5:33 Mel has spray-painted sergeant's stripes; very creative.
Good observation. By the expression on his face and his well-trimmed moustache, I had thought that "Mel" might not have really been part of this crew. Maybe a "Ringer" from another crew, an engineer, an actor, or an Officer perhaps.
When I saw Mel's mustache I immediately thought of a Hollywood plant.....
wow look at that snapring
This video is very interesting by showing a lot of the contrasts between how aircraft maintenance was performed then compared to now. Today, young Airmen are using technical orders on laptops/tablets and not relying on memory to do the same type of work. Also, these maintainers were not wearing gloves while applying oil/grease, did not wear safety glasses while cutting safety wire using diagonal cutters, and there was a distinct lack of torque wrenches.
Amazing
Complicated as a automatic transmission, and no room for Era, man what some engineers
....and I thought it would be just a few nuts and bolts and off you go.
Wow, came along way, in 34 years, since -"RUBBER BANDS", worked the "PROPS".
Man, it’s just like putting on any variable pitch prop. Modern or otherwise. Shit hasn’t changed
Now do that happy task in the South Pacific when the temps are above 40 C.
Damn look at that brake Kleen applicator.
Mel's the greatest.
Really cool vids! No OSHA! Bet that tarmac don’t last long with all that cleaner being sprayed all over it! LOL
Great job fellas!💋
Great Video, thank you for posting it! Has anyone noticed that none of them have gloves or any gear whatsoever while they're spraying solvent (or whatever) on all the parts and handling everything with their bare hands? OSHA would have a fit lol.
Lets see the MSDS on the solvent used to clean the hub... Oh No!! Trichloritane!!! Oh, BTW that "V" packing? Well thats Asbestos!!! Yeah, things were different back then....
Cant imagine how the mechanics did it on a remote airfield in north Africa with all the heat and dust
I always wanted to know how to install the props on a B-17 :)
I wonder if the cleaning solvent was carbon tetrachloride? We were still using it in 1967. It’s banned now…
I was wondering what it was too.
I was using MEK in the '70s like it was a common degreaser/cleaner.
So much I've forgotten... Boy, the DERM/EPA people would surely have a field day with this stuff nowadays. What would they do, shut down, or fine the Air Corps out of business?
probably cleaning parts with TCE