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"Thunderbird" designed by George Hacker with twin Allison's.

According to this blurb, "Thunderbird" sounds like the boat I was reading about, though it didn't get the Allisons until decades after the war.

Outfitted originally with twin V-12, 550 hp Kermath engines, the vessel was capable of 60 knots.
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Following the entry of the U.S. into World War II, however, Whittell became afraid that his beloved yacht or its engines might be conscripted into military service, and he hid it away in Lodge's boathouse where it remained throughout the war.
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...the boat was rescued by casino magnate William F. Harrah, who purchased it from Whittell in 1962. ...replaced the original Kermath engines (which when removed had only 83 original hours on them) with two V-12 Allison aircraft engines, each developing 1100 horsepower.

thunderbirdtahoe.org/yacht-history

Words do not do it justice. You really need to see this boat. Fifty-five feet of double planked mahogany with a brushed stainless steel top.

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Fifty-five feet of double planked mahogany with a brushed stainless steel top.

The PTs were built about the same. Normal practice for boat construction at the time.

My Dad took me to see "PT 109" when it came out. He had seen PTs in the distance when he landed in France, but, when he watched the film he commented that he had had no idea that they were as large as they were.

Color film produced by Elco during the war about building the boats. The engines are installed in part 3.

pt 1

youtube.com/watch?v=Z8tQP3s9DIQ

pt 2

youtube.com/watch?v=8e6Ei5UvLqI

pt 3

youtube.com/watch?v=MN47z3n52-c

There are a few videos of Packard powered boats
packardclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2610

packardclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2627

packardclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2757

packardclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2731

There are a few videos of Packard powered boats

Thanks for the clips. Had not seen the Gar Wood pieces before.

Always amuses me about the film about Merlin production. In the aerial pic where they highlight the new production space added, they have the Toledo plant superimposed where the cemetery is.

I wonder how much floorspace they added in total. We know how large buildings 22 and 84 are. Toledo is a bit over 300,000sqft. The film doesn't mention how large a couple of the buildings are.

If they had done what Ford did at Willow Run, build a new plant to get all that added space under one roof, and build it on the government's dime, then buy it at 20 cents on the dollar after the war......there was a nice parcel on Southfield, right next to a major rail line, and in the city, so workers and utilities close at hand. Easily could have taken a 1-1.5Msqft plant. Ferguson built a tractor plant there in 48.

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Steve203 Quote:

Thanks for posting. We WWII Military History buffs love this kind of thing. Plus, the Packard-built V-12 is a big plus!

Craig

Plus, the Packard-built V-12 is a big plus!


iirc, that film says that the 4M-2500 was derived from the Liberty, an example of leveraging development work that had been done on the government's dime.

If they had done what Ford did at Willow Run,

I need to clarify that. What I ment was that, after building Willow Run on the government's dime, Ford could have bought it for 20 cents on the dollar.

Studebaker did take advantage of plant availability after the war.

As Studie's main factory complex was occupied building deuce and a halfs and Weasels, when the company was given a contract to build aircraft engines, the government built the Chippewa Ave plant for them. After the war, Studie bought Chippewa for peanuts and happily churned civi trucks and M-35s out of there through the 40s and 50s. Looking at the Google satellite view today, you can still see the test track where they checked out the new trucks.

Packard could have done the same thing, rather than scatter the wartime expansion among several small buildings.

A Packard by another name.

Was doing some reading about Curtiss-Wright and saw they made marine diesels. News to me. The listing said Wright 12V142 (Packard 1D-1700) 18 built at Utica in 60-61. 2 more built at Wright Aeronautical in 63.

enginehistory.org/Wright/WrightProd.pdf

Someone could have picked up two, never run, still packed in cosmoline, a couple weeks ago


Pair of Curtiss-Wright 12V-142 Marine Diesel Engines

ebay.com/itm/Pair-of-Curtiss-Wright-12V-142-Marine-Diesel-Engines-/121412280969

Not surprising as CW Took Packard's Utica engine plant as part of their management fee and Utica was building those engines.

<i>...and Utica was building those engines.</i>

I was not sure where the diesels were being made, though Utica makes sense for anything DoD related, from a security standpoint.

I just find it interesting that C-W would rebrand the engines as their own, including a distinct model number, and even more interesting that enough tooling or spare parts was moved to a Wright plant in NJ to build a couple more after Utica was sold. Must have given the Navy parts supply people fits.