RE: Why the near obsession with over powering airplanes?
I don't care what engine people use in what plane, but for me, I tend to want to use WOT most of the time (except when deliberately poking around). It seems a bit pointless to me having an engine that you never need to exceed half throttle on take-off or any manouvere. I assume that most people with big engines want to go fast and extreme a lot of the time, and that is the way they like it.
Having said this, I get impatient when driving stuck behind a slow driver with a V8 who will only ever use a fraction of the power. I say use it or loose it.