The Spitfire and the Hurricane would not have flown without them, the Second World War would have sounded very different without their distinctive rumble overhead, but victory and peace marked the beginning of the end of the golden age of the aircraft propeller. Until now, perhaps — because in a corner of an airfield in Gloucestershire, a very British industry is making a comeback. Moreover, its renaissance is being driven not by nostalgia but by 21st-century pragmatism.