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LOT 3347
Massive Aircraft Propeller Attributed to the World War I German Gotha G.V Bomber - This colossal propeller measures approximately 12 feet in length and is attributed to being used on the World War I German Gotha G.V heavy bomber. The size alone certainly fits the type of propeller the two engine Gotha required. The menacing bomber measured over 40 feet in length, with a wingspan over 77 feet long and standing 14 feet tall. The Gotha was primarily used in a night bomber role and accounted for 83 tons of ordnance dropped on England. The Gotha bombing raids were a precursor to the strategic bombing campaigns that defined the next world war. The laminated wood propeller has been marked “D/1 GOTHA” in yellow paint, is wrapped in what appears to be black painted canvas, and has the blade edges wrapped in metal.
Length: approximately 12 feet.
CONDITION: Very good overall with most of the canvas wrapping remaining and a sizable chip absent along a leading edge of a blade. The massive size alone makes this propeller a distinctive piece of aviation memorabilia.
Estimate: 3,500 - 6,500
LOT 3348
Two Framed Displays of World War I German Airplane Canvas - Both items are cut-away segments of aircraft canvas, prominently featuring a cross insignia of a pattern used by the Luftstreitkraefte of Imperial Germany in World War I. Both canvas segments have a camouflage base coat, with the crosses rendered in black with white borders. 1) Cross pattee/iron cross pattern canvas, 32 inches wide and 25 inches tall, with the cross measuring about 25 inches square and a two-tone green and brown base coat. The pattee would be the German standard
at war’s start up until about March 1918. A small inventory number “94-228” has been added to one corner. The canvas rests on white matting in a single sided frame with a Bonhams lot sticker in the corner; the Bonhams lot listing attributes the canvas as being from a downed Albatross D.III biplane fighter, as well as being formerly of
the inventory of the Mountfitchet Castle Museum in Essex. 2) Balkenkreuz pattern canvas, with a tight matting around the cross creating a viewing area roughly 19” square. The glass and matte are double sided, the front showing the cross and the back showing a cross-shaped panel of hexagonal blue/brown/green base finish. The balkenkreuz would enter service in March 1918, and become a mainstay German insignia through World War II and beyond.
CONDITION: Both are very good, with cracking and flaking of the paint appropriate to age and travel.
Provenance: The Putnam Green/Sycamore Collection.
Estimate: 3,000 - 5,000