Wright Propeller

On loan to Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum from the National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF), this Wright Model K Propeller was signed by Orville Wright at his home in Dayton in 1944. It will be at the museum for an initial term of five years.

The Wright propeller was owned by a worker from the Wright Aeroplane Company who received it when the Company closed. According to oral history, just prior to closing the doors for the final time, Orville Wright granted permission for loyal employees to take pieces of flyers with them on their last day(s) to thank them and to tidy the building up prior to vacating. In 1944, the sons of the worker who was given the prop took it to Hawthorne Hill to show Orville. The surviving Wright Brother welcomed them and signed the prop and the owners went on their way. Before the NAHF acquired the propeller in 2004, the previous owner lent it to various museums for a nationwide tour. After that tour, it returned to Dayton and was sold to the NAHF.