I’ve just been re-reading that section in the book and it was a dog of an aeroplane. They had to bin the rear fuselage and make a new one and fit ailerons. It was also overpowered and would exceed VNE in level flight! Mind you, the VNE was only 45mph.

In the film it was the mount of the Italian who catches fire just before the end of the film. The film people wanted to put the smoke generator between the carb and petrol tank!

M