Propellors: Ship versus airplane

[TriPolar]

@Cosmic Relief

One advantage for forward-mounted airplane props is that the landing gear doesn’t kick up debris into them. A secondary concern, certainly, but not unimportant.

A factor in watercraft also. A forward mounted propellor on a boat would be plowing directly into any debris in the water, which could damage the prop or get fouled in it. The boat should cut a path through floating debris and leave comparatively cleaner water at the rear for the prop to work in.

[thirdname]

@HeyHomie

FWIW, I’ve seen a plane with a propeller behind the cockpit. It was at a fly-in of private pilots at SPI. It was a teeny-tiny experimental, probably home-built, craft of some sort. About the size of a Mazda Miata.

Sounds like a Long-EZ or its predecessor the VariEze.