the Americans had, let’s say, ‘appropriated’ a British wing design to get the Bell X-1 through the sound barrier
Just shows Clarkson didn't have a clue either.
having already given the project’s research to the Americans
A bit of a stretch of the facts. American C. B. Millikan was given a briefing on the M.52 and I have a copy of his report, it contains only a general over sight of the 52 and little in depth information, he thought the project interesting but not worthy of further exploration.