How about the B-17?
Model 299 roll-out July 1935 – through the YB- (which Air Commodore Arthur Travis Harris – who was visiting the USA on a purchasing mission took one look at the strange nose turret and commented in a report after he had inspected a Y1B-17 that the device would seem to be ‘… More appropriately located in an amusement park than a war aeroplane’.
There then was the B and C models – representatives from Boeing flew to Wright Field Ohio to meet with Colonel Oliver Echols to discuss drastic changes in the Flying Fortress. The first B-17C had yet to fly and the D model was way behind that. Echols was only too aware of what was happening in Europe, and what would engulf the United States. He was looking ahead and told Boeing: ‘Figure out how to get more guns in those Forts. Tail guns especially. And armor plate to protect the crew’. Of course it was the RAF that first took the B-17 to war and the list of faults they turned up was almost endless.
Big strides forward were made with the ‘E’ Model – however, the Japanese who captured and evaluated a number of Es were not impressed – the forward defensive armament was considered very poor, and there is also evidence that when evaluating the Norden bombsight, both the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army found the stabilization methods of their own bombsights superior to the Norden. By combining the characteristics of the two, the Japanese came up with a far superior bomb-aligning instrument!
The F model again brought improvements – probably the most notable change during the production was the near doubling of fuel capacity by installing nine additional fuel cells in the wing, outboard of the engines, and adding another 250 miles to the B-17’s practical radius of action. However, there was nothing that could be done about the basic design fault of all B-17s – the size and shape of the bomb-bay which severely restricted the bomb load.
It was not until the G model that the forward defensive armament ‘problem’ was addressed. Even then, there was still ongoing problems with the engines and other systems.
It could be argued that the B-17 was never truly ‘perfected for production’ despite the many thousands built. In March 1945 a number of field modifications saw the 1st Combat Wing had the 91st Bomb Group fly without waist guns or gunners, the 381st Group with ball turret removed, and the 398th with chin turret removed. In 3rd Division the 94th Group removed chin and ball turrets. A substantial improvement in performance was reported by the 94th where a combination of better streamlining, weight reduction and improved centre of gravity resulted in an estimated 25 mph speed increase – but by then it was all over bar the shouting.
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