This prop is currently being restored. It is shown here as it was before
restoration began. At the bottom of this page is a library photo of a previous
prop, restored, but now sold.
These BE2 props that were designed by the Royal
Aircraft Factory before the start of WW1 were quite the most slender and
elegant of four bladed props. This prop comes from the first years of
WW1 c1914. It was made for the BE2 and is marked for the A or B models,
which makes it extremely rare.
The BE2 was first built in 1912; thirty-two were produced. The first
variant, the BE2a was introduced in late 1912 and the improved BE2b was
introduced in 1914. Fifteen 2a’s and eighty-five 2b’s were supplied
to the RFC. These early BE2 aircraft were powered by the 70hp Renault
engine. The later BE2c was used in large numbers with the RAF 1a engine
of 90hp.
The first RFC aircraft to land in France in 1914 was a BE2a of number
2 Sqn and 2Lt Rhodes-Moorhouse was posthumously awarded the VC for his
bombing attack on Courtrai railway station in April 1915, the first to
be won by an airman. His successful attack in the face of heavy ground
fire was judged to have been the most important bombing sortie of the
war to that point. Although mortally wounded during the attack, Rhodes-Moorhouse
successfully flew his damaged aircraft back to the Royal Flying Corps
airfield at Merville in order to report the result of the raid.
This prop was made by Aldam Heaton and carries the
firm’s decals, one on each blade. There is currently a coat of later
varnish on the prop that we plan to remove.
£4600 (pounds sterling) plus carriage
XE.com
Personal Currency Assistant
For reference: the photo below is a library photo of a previous prop,
restored but now sold.
