Did Merlins power the P51s, too? Very cool.
The P51 used Packards I think. Coffee’s still brewing, so someone correct me if I’m wrong
They originally were Allison powered then Merlin and
lastly Packard. I believe Packard manufactured the Merlin design.
The P-51 started as an Allison engined attack plane and was designated the A-51. The British bought a bunch but were disappointed at the performance of the Allison. They modified the some A-51’s by attaching Rolls Royce Merlins instead and the P-51 was born.
The Mustang originally was produced with an Allison engine but the performance of the plane was less than desired.
The Brits replaced the Allison engines in a few with Merlin engines and the plane became what documentaries call a war winner.
Packard was building Merlin engines under license of Rolls Royce for the Spitfire so it was simple to have the Merlin installed at the point of manufacture.