Experten 109/40, you should read more and type with care. The only thing you got right was the bit about the Treaty of Versailles. The Germans DID have plans to attack the USA by coming up through South America. Do you really think they would have stopped here? NO. They would have gone for Canada as well. Can't imagine why they would want it, but at the time it would only have taken a 3-day weekend anyway.

You also seem to be blaming the whole thing on the "Limeys". BULLS**T! England was as much a victim as anyone on the continent. Their saving grace was the English Channel. Just as ours was the Atlantic. Even though we were directly attacked by Japan, our first priority was still Germany. Why? Because they were the biggest threat. Being of Irish descent, no one will ever accuse me of "loving" the English. I do however respect their many accomplishments in the world of aviation. The Germans were good, too. But they were in over their heads and their evil leadership was too insane to even realize it.

Please lets return to our discussion about ENGINES and leave this revisionist-history crap behind.

Shrky, I couldn't have said it better. By Experten's logic, the Me109 must have been a total P.O.S. by the end of the war. Even I know better than that.

The Germans did some amazing things with piston engines during the war. Their greatest legacy is probably that of fuel-injection. They pioneered the use of it and developed it to a high level in a relatively short period of time. As far as aviation in general is concerned many of the features of modern high-speed aircraft can trace their roots directly back to war-time Germany. Their biggest problem was a shortage of everything but genius. Kinda hard to work under those conditions, but they managed, at least for awhile.

German radials were somewhat unremarkable other than the fuel injection. Their inlines on the other hand were on par with RR other than the superchargers, which while good, were not as good as RR's. The Allison V1710 never reached the level of either. The Allison was developed in the mid-thirties as an airship engine. GM accorded a low priority to development due to the fact that the only real market was the airlines, and they preferred the radial. The final versions of the V1710 used in the P/F-82's were rated at 2200 hp with water injection. At high boost pressures, the Allison was never as reliable as it's European cousins. It was, however, AVAILABLE. In wartime, availability is everything. Just ask the Germans.