[3][4] In December 1941 McCauley's company increased production from 700 to 1500 propellers per month, supporting the war effort.
He attended Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and worked as the chief draftsman for a farm equipment manufacturer in New York.
He married and worked as chief tool designer for the Corona Typewriter Company of Groton, New York.
McCauley divorced Ruth in 1938 and filed suit against Dr John DeForest Smith for alienation of affections.
The 1954 citation by the Secretary of the US Air Force for Ernest G. McCauley reads: "His invention of the HYDRO-CONTROLLABLE PROPELLER in 1924 has been an outstanding achievement, and culmination with his more recent inventions of the SOLID STEEL Propeller for trainers in 1939, and the one-piece MET-L-PROP for the light airplane in 1947: All are aviation firsts in their fields, and thus Mr. McCauley can be credited with a very important role in the advancement of aviation in the past 36 years."