Aircraft propeller

This beautifully crafted propeller was typical of those used on early planes. The pioneers of flight would often build their own from kitsets or parts they imported from manufacturers overseas.

It is thought to have come off a plane flown by Will Scotland in about 1917. It then spent many years on display at the Tramway Hotel Museum in Newtown, Wellington.

Scotland was famous for being the first to achieve sustained flight in the Wellington region, and for carrying out New Zealand’s first unofficial mail drop, in 1914. The pilot made a series of flights northwards from Invercargill to Auckland to publicise aviation. ‘Passing over Temuka,’ he said, ‘I dropped a parcel for a friend of mine, Mr Andrews. There was nothing breakable in it.’

He also plaqyed a major role in assiting Henry Wigram establish a pilot training school in Sockburn (Wigram).