Why no twin engined Griffon aircraft?

[Admiral Beez]

There must have been reasons why there wasn't any twin engined Griffon-powered fighter or strike aircraft that made it past the experimental phase. The Westland Welkin, Vickers Type 432 and late/post war DH Hornet, Short Sturgeon and I.Ae. 30 Ñancú would seem likely candidates, but they all fell back onto the Merlin.

 

[Shortround6]

A few 'possible' reasons.
1. Timing.
2. Price
3. Availability which can include
A. Production line capacity
B. Foreign export restrictions? ( I.Ae. 30 Ñancú ?)

The Griffon was sort of an in-between engine and it was running about 1 year or more behind the Merlin as far as two stage supercharger went.
Yes the Griffon makes more power but is it enough more power for a designer to design his "new" airplane around or was he going to go for the Sabre or Centaurus or a new jet engine?
British had started working on jet bombers in late 1943/early 1944 for preliminary calculations/drawings. Piston powered planes were still wanted for some missions/types.
On the other side of things, Bristol was pushing the Buckingham/Brigand family (first Buckingham flew in Feb 1943) and designing a lower powered 'strike' aircraft might not have found favor. Granted the Buckingham/Brigand had some problems but that was not known in the design period when a company would be pitching the alternative Griffon powered plane for a government contract.

 

[Jugman]

Another factor, as far as fighters are concerned, is roll mass and inertia. If you had a DH Hornet with two-stage Griffons it would weigh at least 1500lbs more and this weight is concentrated some 8ft or so away from the center. The USAAF considered the 600lb weight penalty ADI would add to the P-38K to much.

 

[Steve Hnz]

The USAAF considered the 600lb weight penalty ADI would add to the P-38K to much.

ADI??? Sorry got me on that one.

 

[Jugman]

Anti-Detonation Injection. Aka water injection.

 

[Howard Gibson]

There must have been reasons why there wasn't any twin engined Griffon-powered fighter or strike aircraft that made it past the experimental phase. The Westland Welkin, Vickers Type 432 and late/post war DH Hornet, Short Sturgeon and I.Ae. 30 Ñancú would seem likely candidates, but they all fell back onto the Merlin.

They investigated a Griffon engined development of the Mosquito. The RAF was more interested in the DH Hornet, and the DH Vampire.

 

[Howard Gibson]

There must have been reasons why there wasn't any twin engined Griffon-powered fighter or strike aircraft that made it past the experimental phase. The Westland Welkin, Vickers Type 432 and late/post war DH Hornet, Short Sturgeon and I.Ae. 30 Ñancú would seem likely candidates, but they all fell back onto the Merlin.

I wonder how aware everybody was about approaching maximum possible propeller speed late in the war. The P51H and the DH Hornet were Merlin powered and generally are classified as super-props.