Seafire, yes there would have been things to iron out, but there’s nothing to suggest any more problems than fitting Hercules to a Lancaster, Merlins to a Beaufighter, or a Griffon to a Spitfire, come to that. Not to mention a Merlin to a Mustang.
The thread was about conjecture, a ‘what if’. So although in reality only 116 Whirlwinds were completed, if there was a requirement for a ground-attack aircraft emerging before the WW became obsolete, my conjecture was that more might have been ordered if Petter and Westland had been far-sighted enough to propose a specialised ground-attack variant (with or without Merlins – after all, there was nothing wrong with the Peregrine ‘low down’ in comparison to any other contemporary type.. controversial, but where’s the evidence that this is false?). There was even a trial installation of a 37mm cannon in one aircraft.
Also, it is emerging that the few WW’s built at the time of the Battle of Britain were kept back deliberately as the only aircraft considered capable of success against German armour, should there be a landing. Not my research, that of Dr. Jim Munro.
There are other candidates for the imagined vacancy, but still I stand by my hypothetical aircraft as a hypothetical contender. Just as a bit of fun, which was the spirit of the OP.
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