Powerplant-wise, we had a similar situation here in Oz with the de Havilland DHA-3 Drover.
Immediately post war, there was a requirement for an 8 passenger feeder/utility aircraft to replace the dear old DH-84 Dragon.
An aircraft similar to, but more rugged than, the DH Dove was seen to be the answer.
Now, through the war years, the Gipsy Major had been produced, in quantity, locally and by 1946, considerable stocks of these engines were on hand.
At that time, American dollars were in short supply and we had plenty of Gipsy Majors just sitting around, - so, the three-engined Gipsy powered Drover came about.
After some years experience using that venerable powerplant, most of them were re-engined with Lycoming IO-360s and gave excellent service after that.
The Gipsy-engined ones were better looking, though. (Grin).
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Last edited by Stanwell; 23rd Apr 2016 at 18:30.