Good info here Bob. Another little known fact. The British superiority in supercharger technology gave them a leg up through out the war. The Mk 1 and 2 Merlin’s of the Battle of Britain had two stage two speed superchargers with flame dampers. Later they got fuel injection, intercoolers, and backfire baffles. Late war Merlin’s were producing over 2,000 horse power at War Emergency Power.Compare that to the American Allison which had 200 cubic inches more displacement but could only make about 1,700 horse power when fully developed with the inferior American superchargers.
On 27 February 1947, P-82B, named Betty Jo and flown by Colonel Robert E. Thacker, made history when it flew nonstop from Hawaii to New York without refueling, a distance of 5,051 mi (8,129 km) in 14 hr 32 min. It averaged 347.5 mph (559.2 km/h). The aircraft carried a full internal fuel tank of 576 US gal (2,180 l; 480 imp gal), augmented by four 310 US gal (1,200 l; 260 imp gal) tanks for a total of 1,816 US gal (6,870 l; 1,512 imp gal). This remains the longest nonstop flight ever made by a propeller-driven fighter, and the fastest time in which such a distance has ever been covered in a piston-engine aircraft.