I was musing whilst looking at a picture of a Dewoitine D.520 what if…..?
The Aircraft itself appears to be quite a sound design but like a lot of French aircraft, seemed to be hamstrung by the Hispano Suiza 12Y engine. Now I happy to be corrected but this engine always seem to be a bit of a dog. This prompted a couple of questions
1. Could a D.520 be modified to take a RR Merlin (even the Merlin III would deliver about 150hp more, with the weight of both egines being around the same (IIRC)).
2. If the Merlin would not fit how about a RR Peregrine? Less power (885hp approx vs 910hp approx) but less weight.
What does the learned forum think?
By: Veltro - 18th January 2005 at 21:35
When the Italians first flew D.520s in 1940, they were very impressed, particularly by the cannon. At the time, the average Italian fighter had an 840 hp Fiat A.74 radial.
By 1943, when they were flying DB.601-powered Macchi C.202s and were looking forward to DB.605-powered C.205, Fiat G.55 and RE 2005, the Italians found the D.520 had luckluster performance.
My conclusion: the D.520 was probably in the Spit I/Hurri I category. A later Merlin would improve things, a Peregrine wouldn’t.
But if someone would like to deliver an original D.520 to the Italian Air Force Museum, I will see to it that it gets painted in Italian colours. 😀 😀
Veltro
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January 18, 2005 at 8:49 pm