Propeller Sculptures / By MotoArt — told by Artist Donovan Fell III

About | Motoart

As a young boy growing up in Southern California in the early 1950's, airplanes and the men who flew them became a lasting fascination. In 1959 I stood in line for hours at Los Angeles International to gaze in awe at the new DC-8 jet passenger liner. United Airlines offered the public free tours of this new aircraft to acquaint them with the future of aviation, jet propulsion.

As the years passed jets became commonplace and propeller driven aircraft have become a rarity. During this time my career evolved into building themed entertainment structures and sculptures for museums and the entertainment business. One January morning in 1998, the metal junk man who recycles our scrap aluminum made his usual stop. By chance I glanced in the back of the scrap pile and viewed several marvelous creations from the past. As it turned out, these were B-17 propellers. All were greasy, dented, and about to be melted for scrap.

What beautiful shapes they were and what countless memories of engineering, combat and freedom they contained. It was love at first sight and I vowed to save these unique forms of metal from the smelter¹s furnace. Within minutes a deal was struck and the possession of several hundred pounds of scrap aluminum changed hands.