I was sent the following story several years ago, I was told it can from a book titled Vee For Victory. Does anyone have any information about this?
"I would guess that almost everyone has heard of the story of the Flying Tigers' engines, but in case y'all have not, here it is.
The British agreed to allow China to have 100 Tomahawk IIA's to equip the American Volunteer Group and get the later D's and E's in exchange.
But even back then it was common for governments to buy airplanes and engines separately. The British refused to give up 100 V-1710 C series engines to install in the fighters. They probably thought that they would use them as spares for the ones they already had, or to go in their Lightning I fighters.
Allison stepped up to the challenge of equipping the Chinese fighters, and did so magnificently. The company had plenty of 1710 parts that were manufactured and were found to be non-compliant. They got a team of top engineers and experienced technicians and hand built 100 engines, using the out-of-spec parts, carefully selecting and fitting each one. They added shims or bushings as required, and I would imagine also doing additional machining as required as required.
The Flying Tigers got those special built engines, and each one had virtually been built up like a race car engine (note: after all, we are talking people working in Indianapolis here), or "blueprinted." And those engines built of rejected parts developed more power and used less gasoline than any stock C series V-1710. The Tigers said they could notice it too; their airplanes were noticeably faster than the P-40's they had been flying in the USAAF. One even said he saw them hit 375 mph in level flight."
"I would guess that almost everyone has heard of the story of the Flying Tigers' engines, but in case y'all have not, here it is.
The British agreed to allow China to have 100 Tomahawk IIA's to equip the American Volunteer Group and get the later D's and E's in exchange.
But even back then it was common for governments to buy airplanes and engines separately. The British refused to give up 100 V-1710 C series engines to install in the fighters. They probably thought that they would use them as spares for the ones they already had, or to go in their Lightning I fighters.
Allison stepped up to the challenge of equipping the Chinese fighters, and did so magnificently. The company had plenty of 1710 parts that were manufactured and were found to be non-compliant. They got a team of top engineers and experienced technicians and hand built 100 engines, using the out-of-spec parts, carefully selecting and fitting each one. They added shims or bushings as required, and I would imagine also doing additional machining as required as required.
The Flying Tigers got those special built engines, and each one had virtually been built up like a race car engine (note: after all, we are talking people working in Indianapolis here), or "blueprinted." And those engines built of rejected parts developed more power and used less gasoline than any stock C series V-1710. The Tigers said they could notice it too; their airplanes were noticeably faster than the P-40's they had been flying in the USAAF. One even said he saw them hit 375 mph in level flight."
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