by Saracenman » Sat Mar 21, 2009 6:03 pm
me too!
i have to agree Danf - the Merlin that we Limies love so much wasn't a RR thoroughbred by any means, but a perfect RR/Packard 'mongrel' with the best input from BOTH sides of the pond!
I'm certain that, had Packard NOT engineered mass-production of Merlin, the majority of those aeroplanes that we fondly remember to be powered by them, would've been powered by something else! RR simply didn't have the wherewithal to produce Merlins in the required quantities.
it's exactly the same story with the tank version of the Merlin, the RR Meteor - so vital to our tank production toward the end of the war with the likes of Cromwell/Comet, and latterly the Centurion. the Meteor was actually DEVELOPED from the Merlin, not by RR themselves, but by Rover!
so, in actual fact, ALL Meteor tank engines were Rover Meteors, no RR employee ever laid a finger on them!
sm
Lunchtime! 
