IIRC there were some late WW1, or early interwar period, liquid cooled planes that did use skin coolers. As engines got bigger, they became impractically large

IIRC there were some late WW1, or early interwar period, liquid cooled planes that did use skin coolers. As engines got bigger, they became impractically large (covering a significant fraction of the fuselage), complicated with lots of pipes all over the place, and heavy. Don't see why the tradeoff would be that different for an intercooler vs. the main engine cooler.