Interesting film. However, thy did fail to mention that a very large number of Merlin engines were manufactured, under license, by Packard Motor Car Company in the US during the war. Virtually all the Merlin engines installed in P-51 Mustangs were manufactured by Packard, however by the end of the war Packard was shipping engines to England as well.

One scene in the film that was of interest to me was when they showed a machine finishing a crankshaft and on the side you could clearly 'Wicks: Saginaw, MI". I worked for 14 years in Saginaw and recall the old 'Wicks' factory. And as it happens, the manufacturing facility where I worked was actually part of a British company.

And another story, when I was on a job sight in the UK several years ago, I had a free weekend and so I visited the Air arm of the Imperial War Museum located at Duxford, near Cambridge. This was an old RAF base that later in the war was where the U.S. 8th Air Force flew B-17's from. After the war it was eventually turned in an air museum. The weekend that I was there they hauled out a Spitfire and gave a demonstration flight. That plane was amazing and the pilot made several really low passes over the field at full throttle as well as somme higher altitude aerobatic maneuvers. Watching this plane being put through it's paces, you couldn't help but wonder it must have like when there were hundred or so of these planes in the sky at once.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

John,
That film was a piece of puffery for Rolls Royce, you do not think that they would, admit, that somebody else could possibly make " Their engine.".
The wartime cooperation with Packard was not something they would readily mention.
I see that now you are retired , you can spend time in corners of the forum like this one.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

JohnRBaker,

All the P-51B, C, D and H Mustangs were powered by Packard Merlins, as were the Curtis P-40F and K. The Spitfire XVI was a Spitfire IX with a Packard Merlin, and usually, a bubble canopy and cut-down rear fuselage. I suspect that most flying Spitfires today are late models with larger Rolls Royce Griffon engines. These have either five blade, or contra-rotating six blade propellors. There is at least one Seafire XV flying with a single stage supercharger Griffon and four blade prop.

The Mosquitos and Lancasters built in Canada generally had Packard Merlin engines. I don't have a reference in front of me, but I believe that a Mosquito BIV made in Canada with Packard Merlins would be a B26.

--
JHG

The Spitfire I saw at the Duxford Museum, I'm pretty sure it had only four-blades. I KNOW it didn't have contra-rotating blades as I would have definitely remembered that.

John R. Baker, P.E.
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

For the most part the contra rotating propellers did not show up until after the end of WW2 although they were developed in 1944. The first serious use of the contra rotating prop was on the sea fire to get the prop diameter down and counteract torque swing for carrier use.
Rotol ( later Dowty Rotol ) made most of the four blade, five blade and six blade contra propellers used on the spitfires.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

Drawoh, a good few of the flying spits are Merlin Engine - and of course the few Hurricanes too.

Loved the film. Great showcase for what it takes to design and commission a new engine. Then build it in large numbers. There aren't many of these films around - ones that go all the way from sand cores to final assembly.

Steve