I don't think it's that simple. Inline engines have less frontal area, yes, but then you need a radiator which will add back quite a bit of drag. Further, as Ku

I don't think it's that simple. Inline engines have less frontal area, yes, but then you need a radiator which will add back quite a bit of drag. Further, as Kurt Tank demonstrated with the, at the time, revolutionary FW 190, it's possible to make a very low drag radial engine installation. These ideas were then used in the Tempest II and Sea Fury, which were among the fastest piston engined planes ever made. Further, I'd say in history there's a lot of path dependence here (in aviation engine development as well as elsewhere, obviously) as well rather than 'pure' arguments based on the best option for a from scratch design. As it wasn't clear at the time which engine type would 'win', major powers developed both lines in parallel, if for no other reason but to not be so much behind their competitors in case some development would cause one of the engine types to clearly pull ahead. WWII showed that both air cooled radial and water cooled inlines could be used for top of the line fighters for the entire conflict. After the war, it was clear that for speed jets were going to be the future and there wasn't the wartime pressure to keep any and all production lines going at maximum capacity, so aircraft designers had more leeway in choosing powerplants. Perhaps it was because US multi-engine aircraft designers were familiar with radials and it was clear to them they were plenty good enough, perhaps it was better reliability, but radials they chose (with some exceptions, obviously).