Comments by "" (@RedXlV) on "The Westland Whirlwind Reassessed" video.

  1. Before you even got to the explanation of the real rason why a Merlin-powered Whirlwind was never made, I was already saying "It's because it would use twice as many Merlins as a Spitfire or Hurricane." Though honestly it would've been really interesting if the RAF had stripped a few Merlins out other, less useful aircraft for testing in the Whirlwind.
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  2. At a first glance at WW2 aircraft, you'd think that installing a Merlin was the cheat code for turning a mediocre aircraft into a great one. (It certainly did that with the Mustang, after all. Along with turning the pitiful failure that was the Manchester into the stunning success that was the Lancaster.) Which leads to all the questions of "why didn't (X aircraft that had any sort of difficulties) use the Merlin?" that always come up. A more in-depth look with often show there were perfectly good reasons, though. Whether it's the Merlin being a poor fit for a particular plane or just (as in the Whirlwind's case) bad timing meaning that when it could've happened there simply weren't enough Merlins to go around. And of course, the failures that used a Merlin tend to either be forgotten entirely or just never remembered for being Merlin-powered. While the Merlin was a great engine, it was never as simple as "install a Merlin = automatic epic plane".
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