Ok, ok, screw up is a hard statement...
What I wanted to say is that adding ventral fins usually is not something that you pout on your original design...at least, not lately...
Flight test fix - yes...high AoA (after flight test) - yes...
As for 737 in RAAF - this was not the original design neither for 737 nor for its military counterpart...therefore it is still a fix...
Any mod, whatever the purpose, is still a fix...
Not a screw up

maybe, only sometimes...