P-MAN III - 11             

SW Koror/B-24 Hamilton-Standard Propeller - Custer/7thAAF

The P-MAN III team spent considerable amounts of time in the Koror area investigating possible leads concerning a Corsair belonging to Major Quintus B. Nelson, who was shot down in the Koror area in 1945. While investigating a report by a local Palauan of a possible site of interest in western Koror, we searched several mangrove areas in SW Koror without success.

However, just after climbing out of the swamps, our guide Joe showed us a home where we did find what appear to be two aircraft tires, which are being used as planters in the yard of one home in the area, as well as one Hamilton-Standard propeller sitting next to a shed). This propeller is missing its protective center hub and the individual blades are each uniformly bent rearward in a smooth arc. The leading edges and tips of the blades are not ground down, suggesting that the propeller was either not under power when it came to rest (e. g., feathered) and/or the propeller squarely struck a uniform surface (e. g., water).

This type of propeller could have originated with a variety of American aircraft in the Pacific, from single engine fighters (e. g., F4U Corsair, F6F Hellcat, SB2C Helldiver, TBM/F Avenger) to 2- and 4-engine aircraft (e.g., PBY, B-17, B-24). I initially thought this propeller might have belonged to Maj. Nelson's Corsair because of the locale, and because of this prop's diameter of approximately 140 inches. The B-24's cited propeller diameter was 139 inches, versus Corsair, Hellcat and Avenger propeller diameter of 157 inches, so this prop's size was consistent with that of a B-24. (The PBY's cited propeller diameter was 144 inches, and we have found no reports concerning losses of PBY's or B-17's over Palau during WWII.)

Interviews of neighbors in the vicinity of this propeller revealed that it was found and removed from Iberor Island (ref: 1986 USGS map), in the lagoon south of Koror by a now-deceased Palauan. He had located it in the proximity of the wing of a B-24 lying upside down on that island. When I asked when and why the old man had done it, the neighbor said he had removed the propeller many years ago because he had wanted it as a decoration for his yard. This had to have been a considerable effort, as the propeller weighs several hundred pounds and would be difficult to get it out of the jungle or shallows onto a small fishing boat.

In 1994, I found and described this wing on Iberor; accordingly, this propeller most probably belonged to the "Brief" ('058), flown by Lt. Glenn Custer and crew of the 494th BG (H), 7thAAF and lost on a combat mission over this lagoon 4 May 1945. Interestingly, this is the third isolated Hamilton-Standard propeller I have seen in Palau. One stands alone and vertical in the middle of a coral head off SW Babeldaob near Aemiliik and one sits among various unidentified war memorabilia near the weather station on Koror.