My thoughts on " Merlin - The Story of the Engine That Won the Battle of Britain and WW2" by Graham Hoyland.

Just read Merlin - The Story of the Engine That Won the Battle of Britain and WW2 (William Collins, 2020) by Graham Hoyland.  An absorbing read about the engine, the aircraft it powered, those who designed it, built it, and flew it.

It also tells the story of the aero-engine from the time of the Wright brothers to the arrival of Sir Frank Whittle’s jet engine.  Hoyland compares the Merlin with contemporary British, American and German engines.  He also discusses the pros and cons of air-cooled and water-cooled engines.

As well as the Spitfire, Hurricane, Mosquito and Lancaster the book mentions the highly significant move to install a Merlin in the North American P51 Mustang.  The Mustang was transformed from a competent low and medium level single seat fighter into perhaps the finest long-range air superiority fighter of WW2 by replacing its American Allison engine with a Merlin.

Having won air superiority in the Battle of Britain powering the Spitfire and Hurricane, the Merlin enabled the Mustang to do the same over Germany and North West Europe in 1944.  As Hoyland writes: “When Goering saw Mustangs over Berlin he was reported to have said that at last the game was up”.

There was also a de-tuned land based version of the Merlin called the Meteor which was eventually fitted to thousands of British tanks.

The book is well worth reading!