P-51 spinner question

[Alexandre Jay]

Hi there guys, a simple enough question for you chaps hopefully..........

What on earth was that little hole on the point of a P-51 spinner?

Some ships seem to have it (Bs, Cs, and Ds), while others don't. I spend all day looking at '51s while drawing and painting them, and this has always bugged me..........

Cheers,
Alex

[51fixer]

Hi there guys, a simple enough question for you chaps hopefully..........

What on earth was that little hole on the point of a P-51 spinner?

Some ships seem to have it (Bs, Cs, and Ds), while others don't. I spend all day looking at '51s while drawing and painting them, and this has always bugged me..........

Cheers,
Alex

The fwd spinner half has a rest that supports the front of the spinner. The prop dome has a shaft that extends fwd. The fwd spinner has a bulkhead with a bushing in a boss in the front of it. The shaft is threaded but there isn't a call out for installing a nut. I believe the hole is for access to the shaft. The hole is covered by a rubber plug so the black dot that you see is larger than the actual hole.
This is for the Hamilton Standard Props.
Aeromatic Props lack the hole as they have a different setup.
There are a few spinners out there that are modern mfg setups that have a ton of screws to secure them and are more like the Hartzell Prop Spinner
You can see the spinners installed on props in the Bald Eagle Aviation Thread.
Rich
Edit- Aeromatic- duh. To much CO2. Meant Aeroproducts.

Last edited by 51fixer on Wed Jan 20, 2010 1:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Alexandre Jay]

Thanks, Rich, that would explain it then.

I guess vintage photos with holeless spinners are either P-51Ks with Aeroproducts props, or maybe the rubber plug has been sprayed over or something...........

[sdennison]

Might it also be a "holding bolt hole" for the spinning fixture???