Propeller
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Object number20441.39
TitlePropeller
CreatorLang (manufacturer)
DescriptionThis magnificent object is a propeller from a very early aeroplane, linked to the Barnwell Brothers, Scotland’s very own aeronautical pioneers. Frank and Harold Barnwell were born in Lewisham but the family moved to Elcho House in Balfron in the early 1880s when their father was made the managing director of the Fairfield Shipyard, Govan.
After studying naval architecture and engineering at the University of Glasgow, Frank went off to America to work for a shipping company for a year. Could he have met the famous Wright brothers over there? Harold meanwhile set up the Grampian Engineering & Motor Company at Causewayhead with a third brother, Archibald. It was this business that gave Frank and Harold the space and the funds to indulge their real passion – aviation.
It was at Causewayhead that the brothers built their first finished aircraft in 1908. The following year they achieved the dream – Scotland’s first powered flight. Their biplane reached the giddy heights of 13ft and flew for 80 yards before crashing to land. Nothing daunted, the brothers continued to work on their designs and in 1911 launched a new monoplane which incredibly flew for a mile. As the longest powered flight in the country at the time, it won them an award from the Scottish Aeronautical Society.
After this success, the two brothers went their separate ways, but both continued in the field of aviation. Harold sadly died in 1917 while testing the Vickers Vampire aircraft. Frank went to work for the Bristol Aeroplane Company – he designed the Bristol F2 Fighter from WWI and the Bristol Blenheim used in WW2.
The Barnwell Brothers are the unsung heroes of Scottish aviation. Their lives and work are commemorated by a sculpture at Causewayhead, fittingly overlooking the fields that saw Stirling’s own magnificent men and their flying machines take flight.
Production date 1909
Object namePropeller, Aeroplane Propeller
MaterialWood
TechniqueGlued
Dimensions
whole Length: 2800 mm
centre Diameter: 200 mm
whole pitch: 400
centre thickness: 120 mm
centre Diameter: 200 mm
whole pitch: 400
centre thickness: 120 mm