|
Re: Luftwaffe copy the Merlin
It isn't that easy. Where is the factory space that is not fully occupied? You want to build a new factory, where are the planners and builders to do this? Where are the machine tools that are not already being used full time? Where are the workers who are not already working overtime? You have to close down one line, clear the space, build up the new line, train the workers. This will take up to six months, in which time little is being produced, so the equivalent production is lost. When production does start, the workforce will be at the start of the learning curve, so initial production rates will be low. Your suppliers will not be set up to provide foreign technologies. Plus what you are then building is at least one more year out of date.....
No, Gemany did not have access to various exotic metals. This was partly what gave problems with the jet engine programme.
But the real question is why. You have this notion that the Merlin was something spectacularly better than what the Germans had. This isn't true. Yes, it was good, particularly the supercharger, but didn't offer them more power than they were already getting from their own industry - and their engines ran on poorer fuel.
|