Antique Airplane Prop

Home of the Week: Couple builds house, life together in Eastport

Joe Handelman grew up in the Mount Washington neighborhood, north of Baltimore, but college brought him down I-95 South to College Park, and, eventually in the late '50s, to Eastport.

A fraternity brother had a grandmother who lived in one of the grandest old homes in Bay Ridge. Joe enjoyed the parties at the house overlooking the bay.

By the summer of '62, Joe was enrolled the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in Baltimore and the owner of a new Sunfish sailboat. He'd strap 'er to the roof of his '51 Studebacker and head to Bay Ridge.

"I hated dragging my boat into the water there," he sighed. Another friend suggested an inexpensive marina in Eastport - the old Glenn Ed Boat Sales on First Street, where the Eastport Yacht Club now stands. "He had a ramp, and kept my boat there safe and secure for $5 a month," said Joe.

After dental school, Joe served in the Navy for two years. "When I got out of the Navy, I bought another boat from the owner." Joe chuckled. "I never dreamed I'd someday be living a block away."

Both Joe and his wife, Elise, were married before - each for 13 years. Afterwards, they were single for 13 years. Between them, they have five grown children, four grandchildren, and two cats. Newton is a rescue cat and Black Jack, a black-and-white tuxedo, was found as a kitten wandering on the street.

The couple met on a friend's boat "on a blistering hot day," recalled Elise.

"We ignored each other."

The friend persisted and the two met again, without a boat, and hit it off immediately. Next year is their 20th wedding anniversary.

Joe is now a retired dentist. After his Navy service, he had his own successful practice in Bowie for more than 30 years. When Joe retired in 2002, for 3½ years he served as a contract dentist for the Navy at Andrews Air Force Base. He is proud that his career was bookended by Navy service.

The dentist is an aviation buff. Also an experienced photographer, Joe is a member of the International Society of Aviation Photographers.

Elise is a registered nurse in Maryland and an Occupational Health consultant. For over two decades, she practiced in a variety of health care settings before embarking on a policy position with the federal government. There, Elise worked for the Department of Labor on Occupational Safety and Health Administration issues.

Where can I find an aircraft propeller blades bent or cracked ...

Posted 2 days ago

call a small air port. in North Carolina two pop to mind. Air Harbor or Shiloh. there will be one near you and if you go and look around you will probably find one. i doubt if they would even charge. call some near you and ask if they do repairs there. you may be able to get one in good shape and bend it however you like. good idea youve got. good luck.

Marious is correct in the fact that small airport repair places usually have these items although with the cost of metal so high these days a lot of places are scraping these things for money so I doubt that you will be able to get them for free, but they should not be to expensive. I had two very large props from a WW2 bomber given to me by a friend and they were both stolen when I put them outside for a day to re-do my bar. They are valuble to some people because these were over eight feet tall and weighed over five hundred pound apiece so the people who took them had to be very organized to even get away with them. Smaller props should not be so hard to get and not as likely to be taken, but if you get some keep them in a safe place. Good luck.

Popular Mechanics

Sport aviation

Flying Magazine

Popular Science

California Warbird Survivors 2002, A Handbook on Where to Find Them