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Perhaps FLYBOYJ has something to say about it?It may be absolutely correct, but it sounds very fishy: both are very significant weight changes, either of which would imply that the aircraft without that strengthening would have structurally-related problems in service, like falling out of the sky without combat damage.
Douglas, Boeing, and Lockheed (which owned Vega) were serious business rivals, it would not be implausible for an employee of any to disparage the others.
Douglas, Boeing, and Lockheed (which owned Vega) were serious business rivals, it would not be implausible for an employee of any to disparage the others.
Does that mean the above quoted text from Freeman's book is inaccurate or most likely so?I know Freeman has been dead for a few years but unless he (or someone else) could show a reference for this claim that would indicate this modification was approved by Boeing AND the US government, it's 100% BS. 450-750 empty weight pounds would effect basic "flight manual" performance and the structural differences would call for revised maintenance, repair and parts manuals.
I have an extreme issue with this statement "Although supplied with design and production plans," as anyone who worked on or built aircraft knows you could have all the "plans" in the world, you build aircraft with TOOLING.
I smell shades of Martin Cadin!!!
Does that mean the above quoted text from Freeman's book is inaccurate or most likely so?
Does that mean the above quoted text from Freeman's book is inaccurate or most likely so?
What do you mean by, "repeating anecdote"?Freeman may have been repeating anecdote or relying on one or two interviews done decades after the fact. Human memory is notoriously unreliable, which is why competent investigators try to get independent collaboration of eyewitness testimony.
Of the 500 B-17F's produced by Vega, most of the last 250 examples seem to have remained stateside for training (I suspected this when browsing one of Joe Baugher's serial number pages). Can someone try to explain this?
A possible explanation might be figured out if someone can find the completion/acceptance dates? As in did Boeing and/or Douglas change over to the G model before Vega did? It would be highly unlikely that all 3 factories changed over in the same week or month. Even the block numbers were not consistent between the factories. An F-40BO was not the same as an F-40VE for example.
What do you mean by, "repeating anecdote"?
What are you saying there?Anecdotes are undocumented stories. If an author interviews some guy who had worked in the purchasing office at Vega who tells the author the that everybody knew Vega bought rivets from old horseshoes, he's repeating an anecdote. If there is a receipt from Jo's Horseshoe Recycling for 5,000 pounds of horseshoe iron rivets, the interviewee provided corroboration.
Anecdotes usually don't involve bad faith, nor do faulty memories.