Originally Posted by
Big Pistons Forever
Nice try but the vast majority of piston engined airliners had American radial engines. European protectionism allowed more expensive and less reliable engines to see service but the production numbers tell the tale. Particularly post WW2 the vast majority of airliners in service were powered by American engines including those used by every major European.
In any case it doesn’t matter, the point remains that the reliability and efficiency of the big radials allowed practical passenger air travel for the first time.
I'm not qualified to comment on the relative technical merits of air cooled radials vs water cooled inline engines. But post-war, the dominance of the US engine manufacturers was much more to do with the size of their domestic market than anything else. Continental north America is vast and there were relatively few railways - ideal for air transport.
Sort of the same point that used about VHS and Betamax.
And by then RR at least was focused on jet propulsion.