Sky9,
Yes, blockages do indeed aggravate cavitation in such pump designs, personally I wouldn't have used the term 'stall' though. I must re-iterate the point that cavitation in such gear pump designs is a given. The important factor is the severity of the cavitation scarring. This is influenced by the specifics of the pump design and the environment in which it is operating. Given the wealth of experience the pump manufacturer had, the design was well understood and was a development of a previous model with a very significant back catalogue of service history. It is the environment (ie the local fuel pressure in the pump) that I feel influenced the degree of cavitation scarring.
Regards,
GFYA