Clay_Allison
Staff Sergeant
- 1,154
- Dec 24, 2008
Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
This is the basic Jist of what I was thinking. Plus the US probably had better materials to work with and better Gasoline.Please see the VK-106 and VK-107 For Russian developments of the basic design. Granted without invasion, bombing and relocation of factories the US would have been faster in implementing changes.
During the mid 1930s Ford could have acquired license build rights to all sorts of aircraft engines. I suspect they could even have acquired license rights to the DB601, as Kawasaki (Japan) did during 1937. But they need motivation to do so in the form of a U.S. Army Air Corps contract.
During the mid 1930s Ford could have acquired license build rights to all sorts of aircraft engines. I suspect they could even have acquired license rights to the DB601, as Kawasaki (Japan) did during 1937. But they need motivation to do so in the form of a U.S. Army Air Corps contract.
Displacement, primarily, allowing a higher critical altitude with a single-stage supercharger.What makes the DB601 better than the Allison?
During the mid 1930s Ford could have acquired license build rights to all sorts of aircraft engines. I suspect they could even have acquired license rights to the DB601, as Kawasaki (Japan) did during 1937. But they need motivation to do so in the form of a U.S. Army Air Corps contract.
Only until 1936The RR Merlin was originally developed as a private venture, without government funds. It's what you call a speculative investment.
This is the basic Jist of what I was thinking. Plus the US probably had better materials to work with and better Gasoline.
I thought of the Hispano because it's an old enough design that Ford could have acquired it when the Allison was in its infancy. Also because Henry Ford had some kind of animosity toward the English, eventually driving the production of the V-1650 to Packard. If not for that, he could have acquired the Rolls Royce R design and refined it into a production quality American Griffon as the V-2240.
What makes the DB601 better than the Allison?
During the mid 1930s Ford could have acquired license build rights to all sorts of aircraft engines. I suspect they could even have acquired license rights to the DB601, as Kawasaki (Japan) did during 1937. But they need motivation to do so in the form of a U.S. Army Air Corps contract.
I'd guess the HS-12YBefore I propose an alternative, which had more potential, the HS12Y or the RR-Buzzard?
I've been doing some reading on Ford, and I wonder if they might be a bad subject for this "what if". I had read about HF's 1000 planes a month boast and used that as a basis for their interest in aircraft engines, but Henry Ford was about as well loved in Washington as Howard Hughes. Those two could have gotten together to build an awesome plane that nobody would want to buy.
Before I propose an alternative, which had more potential, the HS12Y or the RR-Buzzard?
With such a tiny order I'm surprised GM kept the V-1710 engine production line going. They had to be losing money.US government was ordering next to no Allisons for years; 79 between 1934 and 39 to be specific.
I'd guess the HS-12Y
but not so's you'd notice. The Buzzard was, by the sounds of it, a good engine and at 800hp was healthy for the end of the 20s. It's only opinion here, but the Buzzard led to the R series used in the Schneider Trophy machines, rather than being used itself. This is pertinent as both the Buzzard and the R series were racing engines. It was effectively a scaled-up Kestrel and had a very limited production run of 100 units.
I don't think the Hispano powerplant had an awful lot of stretch in it, the Soviets took it on and reinforced just about everything, crankcase, crank etc; supercharging may or may not have brought about performance gains as that aspect wasn't ever particularly good in French hands.
I've just had a quick look-seeThe Buzzard was used to power Flying boats for the most part so I would say it was more of a workhorse engine
With such a tiny order I'm surprised GM kept the V-1710 engine production line going. They had to be losing money.