While the Taurus had a lower power rating than the Hercules, it was much smaller in diameter and lighter than even the Twin Wasp.
Why not use this for FAA fighters?
Give it a two speed supercharger and you will gain performance at altitude.
However...
The 29.8in by 41.2 in Merlin facing easily beats the 46.25 in diameter Taurus.
The Taurus could have been a very good engine. The work done de-bugging it went into the development of the Hercules and Centaurus. It had a good power to weight ratio and could eventually have produced as much power as the similar displacement Merlin. At 44" it was 10" less in diameter than it's big brothers so the drag penalty would have been less. Also as I mentioned radial engines had their strengths such as no vulnerable radiators and unless the bottom cylinder was shot off letting all the oil out they could keep going when bits were knocked off them.
So I think to answer Landys original question the Hercules would be fine for a twin engined fighter but it would have been better to develop the Taurus for a single engined aircraft.
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