Hartzell Propeller Turns 100

Hartzell Propeller plans to celebrate 100 years of hard work at this year's AirVenture in Oshkosh. The company has manufactured and currently supports more than 500,000 props, and began with a neighborly back porch conversation between Orville Wright and Robert Hartzell a century ago for the wooden blades used on the Wright flyer.

TRW bought the company from the Hartzell family in the early 1980s before business executive and former Naval aviator Jim Brown purchased Hartzell in 1987. The company has been controlled by the Brown family ever since.

Along the way, Hartzell has evolved into a company that now builds high performance composite propellers that will be on display at the company’s Booth 296-297 starting July 24. On exhibit will be Hartzell's two-blade composite Trailblazer, three-blade Bantam and Raptor applications, four-blade aluminum and composite options, and five-blade carbon fiber propellers that fit a variety of aircraft models across the industry.

The Hartzell brand propellers are currently available for the Pilatus PC-12, the Supervan 900 turbine conversion, Piper’s M600, the Super Cub, the CubCrafters XCub, the TBM and the Cessna Caravans. Hartzell also extended the warranty on its Top Prop conversion propellers through the first overhaul, calling it the longest warranty for propellers offered anywhere in the general aviation industry.