The engineers became pretty inventive, even finding ways to fire bullets through the path of the wooden propeller blades while somehow not tearing them to splinters. At the start of the war ...

He built a wooden frame, fixed the big Rimfire 50CC outrunner motor and prop to it, slapped on a battery pack and ESC, and zip-tied it all on to the carcass of an old backpack. Remote control in ...

Lewis sanding the hub on a propeller—Day 3 of the task—meant for a Lycoming engine. The business: Culver Props specializes in making custom, fixed-pitch, two-blade, wood propellers.

Seventy-five years later the company that bears their name has produced more than 450,000 wooden propellers—as well as thousands of metal props. The Sensenich Brothers Propeller Company meets ...