cheddar cheese
Major General
Jabberwocky said:If we are talking about never saw service types, put me down for a Merlin II or Merlin 45 powered Westland Whirlwind variant.
Get rid of the unreliable and somewhat anemic Pegasus engine. You would have to space the Merlins further apart as they needed a larger prop than the Pegasus.
Go to a belt feed for the Hispanos to double the amo load, add Fowler or butterfly- type trailing edge flaps to reduce the landing distance and clip the wingtips for a better rate of roll (which you would need as the Merlins are now further out from the Centre of gravity).
Strap on two 90 litre drop tanks or do like Westland wanted and install a 45 gallon rear fusealge tank and install a semirecessed centre-line bomb mount and you would have one very mean mother of a low alt escort fighter/ figher-bomber. It sounds crazy but the twin engined Whilrwind actually had less frontal area than a Hawker Hurricane! Imagine the performance with a pair of +16lbs boosted Merlin 45s running at 1600hp.
I know that a derivative of the Wirlwhind, the Westland Welkin, was modified with high altitude Merlins, but that never saw any operational service and was more like a bunch of flaws with wings than a real aircraft.
I agree. The Whirlwind had great potential for a long range heavy fighter.