RAF Fortress IV powered by RR Merlins. No idea what the cowling would look like for such an aircraft but I suspect that it would be similar in appearance to the Allison V-1710 powered Boeing XB-38
Why yes, it might...
During the early stages of WW II, Victory Aircraft of Canada looked a several large bombers to build for the war effort. The B-24 and Avro Lancaster were considered, as was re-engining the B-17 with Merlin engines. Eventually, the Lancaster was chosen as the plane to build, but one B-17M was built as a proof-of-concept vehicle. This odd one off was eventually given to 469 Squadron as an executive transport.
Post-war, the plane was eventually converted to meteorlogical observation capability, and operated by Maritime Air Command into the mid 1950s. Being a cross between the Flying Fortress and the Lancaster, some witty boffin landed the name Fort-Caster upon it, with it subsequently being called the Weather Fort-Caster in it's Met flight role. Sold off in the early 1960s to Bolivian sheep farmers, it was destroyed in 1969 outside of Lubbock Texas in an unexplained forced landing.
Unfortunately, it wound up on this website:
http://www.aerovintage.com/b17news2.htm and on the April listings, this was said...
I've been researching information about B-17s for the last thirty years but this was a new one on me. According to a now unavailable website, there was a B-17 modification that combined B-17 and Lancaster airframes and it was known as the Fort-caster.Comment: based on the available records, this whole account seems to be a fictional account to go along with an interesting airplane model. However, it is posted here because maybe it is just bizarre enough to be true. Has anyone else heard of this story before, is there any basis in reality for the Fort-caster, or do aircraft modelers just have a twisted sense of reality? All good questions that deserve answers. Periodically, I get an email inquiring aboot this plane, and where I could have found the info. Oops.
BTW, I used the old Revell kits, the B-17F and the Lancaster to make the Weather FortCaster. Having now aquired a couple of the Tamiya 1/48 kits of the Lanc, I'm planning on making it in 1/48th as well. However, i may be changing the tail configuration, as the one I did always looked too fragile for my likings.
Alvis 3.1