One thing that shocked me was being asked by an engineer whether there were any situations where the a/c could land with a full or partial load of torpedoes
This was when they were running around concerned that the C of G was too far aft, and was about 5 months before the supposed first flight, which incidentally happened only 20 months later!!??
IIRC it was known that the Iron Bird rig would have to shake an airframe, virtually to destruction, before being able to do first flight, but it wasn't even built when they were quoting 3-5 months to first flight? Someone will correct me on this one possibly, but even so!
It seemed to be the usual case of senior management and IPT unable to ask the right question, or unwilling to hear the answer (normally the case), and being only concerned with the fire in the buffet car, when the train was heading towards the broken bridge!!
I must work on my analogies, there must be one about aeroplanes
