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Difference between revisions of "Common Questions and Answers"
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→General: Add How did the Allison V-1710 and Rolls-Royce Merlin compare? Section
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{{Blockquote | {{Blockquote | ||
|text=Crews always had favorite aircraft, but except for the special Pathfinder ships, no crew had a guarantee of their "own" plane. When the squadron’s original crews landed in England in 1942, every B-17 commander had a "personal" aircraft, usually with a sweetheart’s name or a racy pinup picture or a slogan painted on the nose. As those planes were damaged or their crews went home, they passed into a general pool to be patched up or refitted for newcomers. Replacement crews quickly learned which B-17s were the trusty ones and which were the dangerous "crates." The more missions you flew, the more likely you were to get a plane you trusted or even a brand-new B-17G.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fleischman |first1=John |title=Black and White Airmen: Their True History |date=2007 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Boston |pages=123–124}}</ref>}} | |text=Crews always had favorite aircraft, but except for the special Pathfinder ships, no crew had a guarantee of their "own" plane. When the squadron’s original crews landed in England in 1942, every B-17 commander had a "personal" aircraft, usually with a sweetheart’s name or a racy pinup picture or a slogan painted on the nose. As those planes were damaged or their crews went home, they passed into a general pool to be patched up or refitted for newcomers. Replacement crews quickly learned which B-17s were the trusty ones and which were the dangerous "crates." The more missions you flew, the more likely you were to get a plane you trusted or even a brand-new B-17G.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fleischman |first1=John |title=Black and White Airmen: Their True History |date=2007 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Boston |pages=123–124}}</ref>}} | ||
=== How did the Allison V-1710 and Rolls-Royce Merlin compare? === | |||
To quote the book ''Vee's for Victory'': | |||
{{Blockquote | |||
|text=The Allison V-170 and the Rolls-Royce V-1650 liquid cooled V-12 aircraft engines were really very many different engines. The active production period for each extended for nearly 15 years. A large number of variations of the engines were built to meet the needs of military tacticians related to the key rolls both engines played during the war. Both engines were needed, and while one particular model or another was preferred for a given mission, not every airplane, and not every engine, should be expected to perform every mission with equal superiority or effectiveness. | |||
The V-1710 was designed to be a two-stage engine, albeit, with the first stage being a turbosupercharger. When pressed into service as a single stage power plant it should not be a surprise that it would be "altitude" limited. Power ratings were quite similar once the U.S. military allowed WER ratings, the V-1710 was able to equal or exceed comparable Merlin performance. | |||
Although the V-1710 had a four year headstart in design and testing, the Government funded Merlin benefited from the experienced Rolls-Royce development team. They had the engine ready and with it the Battle of Britain was won. At that point in time, the V-1710 had just gone into series production. Furthermore, Rolls-Royce was able to grow the capabilities of the engine with their masterful arrangement of superchargers and aftercooling to provide a compact two-stage engine that was able to establish air superiority over both Europe and Japan. Allison was able to match this performance, but was never able to get its most advanced engines into production combat aircraft during the war.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Whitney |first1=Daniel D. |title=Vee's for Victory! The Story of the Allison V-1710 Aircraft Engine, 1929-1948 |date=1998 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing |location=Atglen, Pennsylvania |pages=336–337}} The block quote above is actually just the final summary section for an entire chapter comparing the two engines. For a much more detailed comparison, see pages 316 through 388 in the source.</ref>}} | |||
== Airplane Design == | == Airplane Design == | ||