RAF's CONSOLIDATED CORONADO

[jargon]

OK I'm going to admit that prior to recently acquiring 'The Flying Boats of Bermuda' by Colin A Pomeroy I had not come across this aircraft before.

A photograph of the RAF's JX486 in the book clearly shows that its four engines have four bladed propellers inside and three bladed outside.

A Wiki note, if it is correct says of this combination that the Inners Props are 'reversible pitch', and the outers are 'standard feathering'.

This prop combination must be highly unusual does  anyone know of other military or civil examples? or understand it's flying characteristics/benefits?

Regards

john

[davebasing]

The RAF originally ordered 32 Coronados but its poor range resulted in this being cut to 10 (JX470-472,486,490,494-496,498 & 501) all of which just hauled freight across the Atlantic during WW2 rather than supplementing the longer range Catalinas in Coastal Command. One was written off in a collision on the water with an RAF Mariner, 5 were scrapped but if you go diving off Bermuda four of them (JX486,494,498 & 501) were scuttled there on 28 March 1946. Some were indeed fitted with 4 bladed props on the inboard engines, but others were fitted with 3 bladed props on all engines. Just why, and why the inboards only were reversible is unclear. Even then there were quite severe restrictions on the actual use of reverse pitch.
Of the 210 Coronados built just one example survives and only because it was bought from US navy surplus stock by Howard Hughes (as NR69003) in 1946 to enable him to gain flying boat experience before attempting to fly his much larger Spruce Goose. It had earlier gained fame by having being used to fly Admiral Nimitz to Tokyo Bay for the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945. This sole survivor is now preserved in the superb US Navy museum at Pensacola, Florida where I first photographed her outside in a rather drab scheme in 1981 then 30 years later in 2011 while undergoing restoration and re-painting into original USN colours.

coronado by dave tompkins, on Flickr
IMG_1950 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
IMG_1857a by dave tompkins, on Flickr