Buddy Larsen: Yep, Spanish 109s had the Merlin engine. Lot of them to spare. The Daimler-Benz engines were hard to find. So guy named Doolittle is said to have been responsible.

Merlin, made by Packard, was also in P51, replacing the Allison 1710 found in the immortal P38.

Now then: Did you know that trainee pilots
strafing a Japanese battleship in the Mojave desert often found themselves escorted by
an airplane without a propeller? It was flown by a gorilla wearing a derby and waving a cigar.