Re: Не понял...
>Фактически - он единственный чисто американский серийный движок такого класса на протяжени всей войны.
Да, именно так, и сами же американцы от его надежности в начале войны были сильно не в восторге, что бы не сказать грубее.
У вас явно распространненый комплекс: "американское - значит надежное"...
Вот вам впечатления американского ветерана, в "пересказе", но тем не менее:
In the process of heading west, Kirby spent some time in an engine overhaul facility in Chino, California. There he saw hundreds of failed engines in for rebuilding and read the tags on many of them. The tags showed the time on each engine prior to failure. The radial engines all seemed to have many hundreds of hours while the Allisons rarely had made it to even 100 hours and many had fewer than 10. The experience shook Kirby badly and deeply influenced him for the rest of the war. He was forever afraid of Allison engines, never, ever trusting them.
The Bell P-400
In late June 1942, Kirby arrived in northern Australia where he was introduced to what was probably the second-worst airplane ever foisted on American pilots during the war, the Bell P-400.
Сохраненный источник:
http://vif2ne.ru/nvk/forum/files/Badger/(071227174458)_The_Pilot_s_Lounge__21brThe_Man_or_Woman_Just_Down_Your_Street.htm
Ссылка на исходную статью:
http://www.avweb.com/news/pilotlounge/182674-1.html
но там потребуется регистрация (бесплатная).
