How good was the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine?
And some more successful, like the kestrel and the merlin. Rolls-royce developed the engine from 1933 from an engine called the pv12. Initially of about 900 to 990 horsepower on the bench, then in full production, once made reliable, in the mk i spitfire and the hurricane with over 1100 horsepower. Packard v-1650 merlin. The v-1650 liquid-cooled engine was the u. s. british rolls-royce merlin engine, which powered the spitfire and hurricane fighters during the battle of britain in 1940.The Packard Motor Car Company and Continental Aircraft built over 58,000 Merlins in the United States under license. Many were shipped to England, and others used in versions of the American Curtiss P-40 and most versions of the P 51.The original airframe was designed to be powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine producing 1,030 hp (768 kW). It was strong enough and adaptable enough to use increasingly powerful Merlins, and in later marks, Rolls-Royce Griffon engines producing up to 2,340 hp (1,745 kW).The Merlin was designed and built by Rolls-Royce. These powerful and reliable engines were fitted to many Second World War aircraft including the Avro Lancaster, Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire. Over 150,000 Merlin engines were built. Other companies were licensed to build Merlins in order to meet demand.