You mean like the E3 and rivet Joint? Oh wait, they were almost identical to the USAF spec ones
Not quite right, we re-engined the E-3Ds and changed a couple of other things, most notably ESM (by most notably, I mean they look different from an outside glance).
we may have been told an untruth
By a shear coincidence, someone involved in this told me the story yesterday. You are quite correct, it was the MOD who insisted on using the old fuselages. BAe even offered to build new and make it look like a Nimrod as this would of been easier (and possibly cheaper).