Essential and Dispensible WW2 aircraft.
"Scott M. Kozel" wrote:
The Amaurotean Capitalist wrote:
"Scott M. Kozel" wrote:
You keep calling it a "Merlin-engined Mustang"
Because it used a Merlin engine. QED.
No, it used ---
while in fact those
built by NAA utilized a Packard built engine that was a modifification
of the Merlin design.
The Merlin 61 used in the initial Spitfire IX's was also a
modification of the Merlin design. The fact remains that the V-1650-3
and -7 were two-stage Merlins produced under licence by Packard.
That is partially true. Packard modified the turbocharger to produce
more high-altitude power, and modified the alloys of some of the major
engine components to adapt the engine to U.S. mass production
engineering and processes. The Rolls-Royce Merlin engines were hand-
built. U.S. mass production processes allowed vastly greater
quantities (over 16,000) of the V-1650 to be built in a timely and
reliable manner. Packard added considerably to the design of the
engine, which includes and is integral with its production processes.
But it was still essentially a MERLIN.
If they thought they could have done better as you seem to suggest, they could
have designed a brand new engine but they didn't.
Graham
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