Copy the other guy's stuff

I don't think there is a great difference between the 2 Merlins. Keep in mind that it was the British who first put the Merlin in the Mustang. The Mustang originally came with a Allison.

ppopsie said:

Thanks.>its properties.

In my opinion the Tupolev 4 is the only example of "copying" in history for its scale and significance. As for license manufacturing I am interested in what were the differences between the Merlin engines built in Britain and America. I know some of the important component in the Packard Merlin were of American made. Also I would like to know can the British build Merlin be fitted into the Mustang or not, in terms of airworthiness.

Click to expand...

Agree to a point - The TU-4 was a huge undertaking and refined the Soviet's ability to reverse engineer captured technology, however the B-29 was built from materials the Soviets more than likely already seen in other American planes. Be rest assured that from the hordes or lend lease aircraft sent to the Soviet Union, I'd bet dollars to donuts that they took at least one example of each aircraft they got their hands on in mass quantity and took it apart, analyzing each nut and bolt. In the case of the Nene, they not only have to figure out material and their properties, the the processing that went into them. (ex - your comment about the Japanese and the leaf spring/ shot peening.

I'll address your other questions when I get to work!

Thanks. I read in the past some of the key parts in the original RR Merlin required hand processing by skilled workers' and that was a potential hazard to mass produce the engine in Britain. The Packard's however didn't require such treatment but had performed equally with the original.

Also I think the British had been wise in having contracted an American company for manufacturing the Merlin in early 1940 and prior to sign contract with North American for a new fighter. It must've been easy for everyone in that year, to foresee an occurence of bottleneck in the near future by the reason that most of the fighter types existed in 1940 relied sorely on the Allison engine.

PS mine is not a copy of anybody's