caught me off guard

I believe it was a prototype hemi head similar to the allison P-51 power plant and they all got spanked by the rolls merlin which is original equipment in a spitfire.
 
Of course, both the P47 Thunderbolt and F6F Hellcat were far-more-successful fighters than the Spitfire, as were the P51 Mustang and the Hawker Hurricane. The Hurricane and the Mustang were Rolls-powered, but the F6F and P47 used 2,000+ HP 18-cylinder radial engines--which "smoked" the rather-weak-by-comparison Merlin design that in its greatest iteration managed 1520HP (and was manufactured by Packard in the US). The highest-horsepower P47 was the P47N, at 2,800HP. By late 1943, the Merlin had been phased out, replaced with the more-powerful Rolls Griffon (at its peak 2375HP... still a Street Hemi short of the P47's peak power).

;)
 
It was a prototype inverted V16 Hemi® that was too late 'cause jets were just coming onto the scene.

Link (.pdf)
Big download (9mb), but about midway through is an article about the airplane engine and the eggbeater tank engine.
 
That 30 cylinder multibank engine would sure stuff the engine bay. I sure wouldn't want to pay for that gas fillup. [smilie=e:
 

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