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This wouldn't really fit in the pre-war or post-war categories so I hope it's fine posting it here.

Anyways, I was able to attend the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends "The Final Round Up" in September (the gathering of P-51 Mustangs that is) and as many of you all know, these magnificient fighters were powered by the Rolls Royce and Packard Merlin engines, and what a place to be, surrounded by the roar of over 100 of those Merlin engines. Anyhow, it's always bugged me to hear people refer to the Mustang as "The Cadillac of the Sky", when these birds were powered by Packard... It'll always be the P-51 "the Packard Powered Mustang" to me. (or something like that...) That engine changed a lot of things for our Army Air Corps. and played a vital roll in the WWII Allied victory. I'm just glad that Packard was able to contribute in such a way, and I wish that people had a better way to know about that history. It's sites like this that make that possible...Thanks!

Just thought it would be a neet topic to open for discussion that really is overlooked...
Conn

Conn, One of the sweetest sounds to my ears is the roar of a Merlin engine be it a Rolls -Royce in a Supermarine Spitfire or a P-51. As a kid living along the Detroit River I also had the thrill of watching and hearing the big Merlin and Allison powered hydo plane boats vying for the Harmsworth Trophy etc.
My father was in the Canadian Navy during World War 11 and served in the English Channel on Motor Torpedo boats which were powered by 4 Packard marine V-12 engines. He always spoke very highly of the reliability and power that these engines provided. Packard contributed so much to the war effort it is a shame that it's contributions are not as well known as they ought to be.

Photos of the Packard Merlin engine, taken at the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends "The Final Roundup".

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Those who attended the Packard Centennial in Warren, OH in 1999 had the opportunity to see and hear a running Packard/Merlin. I don't recall who owned it and brought it, but it sure was a pleasure.

Once had a Lancaster bomber pass over my house. What a marvelous sound the 4 Merlins made!

In 2005 I wrote an article about Packard's involvement in producing Rolls Royce Merlin engines. I approached the topic a little differently, talking about the Automobiles (120s, 115Cs, Sixes, Eights, and 110s) that saved the company (Packard) that produced the engine (Merlin) that powered the airplane (Mustang) that won the air war over Europe. I used this article as the basis for a lecture to the docents at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California. Please let me know if anyone would like a copy of the article.

JW,

I think lots of folks here may be interested in reading that Article. If you can send it to me I can post it as a PDF in the Articles section.

Thanks,

Big Kev,

I'll e-mail the article to you. It will be in MS Word. I'll also include a chart and table. The table has the specifications for the Packard-build V-1650 Merlin. The chart displays the production of Packards and shows how few of the senior cars were made and how the junior cars dominated the production in the period covered. The cart is in MS Excel.

In the docent presentation I had about 50 view graphs used as talking points with many photos of Packards, Merlins, and Mustangs and other Merlin powered aircraft in the mix.

Thanks for the interest, and I'm glad to contribute.

J.W.

John, thanks for sending this along. Great article. It is now posted in PDF format for everyone to enjoy. I added the Merlin table to end of the article to keep it all together.

Thanks again for sharing this with the rest of us!

Terrific set of pictures, I'd not seen any of them before. thanks for posting.