A policymaker in 1931 cannot assume the Rolls-Royce Merlin will become the obvious answer; Bristol might look like the stronger bet at the time. One alternative is a competition backed by a substantial prize for the first 2,000-horsepower engine that fits a single-engine aircraft, meets a weight limit, and survives 1,000 hours of testing. The state would define the capability and reliability threshold without selecting a favored company in advance. Aircraft-engine investment then becomes an outcome-based research and procurement problem under genuine technological uncertainty.
Notable Point · 54:15-55:15
An outcome-based prize for interwar aircraft engines
An engine-development aside proposes rewarding a tested capability instead of betting public money on the manufacturer hindsight later made famous.