No Rolls-Royce Merlin?

What if the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine was never invented?

I'm not sure what the POD would be for this - car accidents that remove some of the design team are possible - or perhaps early problems with the engine convince RR that it's not worth fixing. Or maybe a less solvent RR doesn't have the money for the initial development, as the Merlin was a private venture. Or early theoretical work convinces the designers that the Merlin can't reach the potential of the Vulture and Peregrine. Maybe a mix of several of these.

Were there any serious competitors available? I can't think of any (though I could well be wrong on that) and the RAF did use a lot of Merlins.
From what I've read the Peregrine was simply too small and under-powered.
Although radials could have been used, the drag issues could have saddled the RAF with slow aircraft for 1939-40. Though I assume someone would have invented the larger streamlined spinner that the FW190 used.

Another engine would have to be found for the Hurricane, Spitfire, Mosquito, Lancaster and Mustang. Would these aircraft have been able to reach their OTL performance with the alternative engines?

I'm not suggesting that alt-engined Spitfires would allow a successful Sealion!
 
The Merlin wasn't the only motor that Rolls-Royce was developing at the time.
If the Merlin fails for some reason they would probably continue work on the Rolls-Royce Exe & Pennine line of X-block motors.

Another possibility would be the Napier Sabre with it's associated problems.
 
It's not as if the Merlin was some kind of magical design discovered by blind luck in the woods and destined to save Britain from defeat. It was, in it stime, the latest of example of engine production from a very distinguished aero-engine company. One could argue that the British were at the forefront of Engine design with the Germans playing catch up for many years. Furthermore, it is difficult to imagine Britain not finding some sort of high power inline engine, even if it were based on France's Hispano-Suiza 12Y. This is to say nothing of Bristol's world-beating radial engine designs. If Britain, with all its technical expertise and pressing need for a good power plant couldn't develop a world-class engine like the Merlin, who could?

Besides, if hurricanes, with all their faults, did so much to turn back the Luftwaffe, a slightly inferior engine would hardly be enough to doom the RAF and counteract its advantages of being over friendly territory, fewer fuel and range limitations and of course, radar.
 
I'd settle for development of the R-R Crecy. Imagine a 5000hp Hurricane. Faster than a 109E.

Rolls-Royce_Crecy.jpg
 
While the Merlin is in many ways an improvement on the Kestrel, the Kestrel itself was simply a response to the Curtiss D-12. The D-12 was the best inline watercooled for its time. Curtis tried to upgrade to the Conqueror but the Air Corps instance on an insanely high coolant temp lead to burned valves and pistons. Rolls on the other hand told the RAF that the Merlin was to operate at 260D F and that was it. One interesting engine proposal was Fords XV-1650 meant to complete with the Merlin and surpass it. Turned down by the Air Corps with the tooling already ordered it was then built as the 1150 cubic inch Ford tank engine in V-8 form.
 
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