When the "Kee Bird" crashed in 1947 it had Curtiss Electric reversible pitch propellers. Darryl Greenamyer severely disliked reversible pitch props because of a crash he had caused by the props reversing on takeoff. Darryl acquired three of the props from one source and the last from another...
No, no personal connection with the failed recovery, just a broken heart from reading "Hunting Warbirds" by Carl Hoffman and watching Nova's B-29 Frozen in Time. I do have several friends involved with the warbird movement though.