Following a post here...
The V3420 was mooted before WW2, but was ultimately suppressed by the need for more V1710s. So WI Allison had given it a bit more attention & gotten approved for, frex, the B-29, instead of the R3350? Or for the A-36, instead of the Merlin? Or P-39 or P-63? How different would the war have been? Would it make any real difference?
One thought: without the R3350s teething problems, the B-29 might have entered service a bit sooner, putting pressure on the Bomb program to deliver a working core sooner...
More V3420s might have impacted civil aviation postwar, with fewer (no?) R3350-powered Connies & such, & no problems with turbocompound turbine failures. (Can that be traced to the cause of any fatal wrecks?)
The V3420 was mooted before WW2, but was ultimately suppressed by the need for more V1710s. So WI Allison had given it a bit more attention & gotten approved for, frex, the B-29, instead of the R3350? Or for the A-36, instead of the Merlin? Or P-39 or P-63? How different would the war have been? Would it make any real difference?
One thought: without the R3350s teething problems, the B-29 might have entered service a bit sooner, putting pressure on the Bomb program to deliver a working core sooner...
More V3420s might have impacted civil aviation postwar, with fewer (no?) R3350-powered Connies & such, & no problems with turbocompound turbine failures. (Can that be traced to the cause of any fatal wrecks?)