How did Britain fix the Barracuda's tendency toward catastrophic in-flight breakup?
Short answerEngine substitutions had accumulated incompatible airframe changes, so the solution combined stiffening with a coherent redesign from the original structure rather than more layered modifications.
NotesThe Barracuda airframe had been repeatedly changed as the Air Ministry redirected engines to other programs. Each substitution added another structural compromise until incremental fixes were no longer enough. The eventual remedy strengthened the airframe and reworked the design coherently from its original basis instead of continuing to stack changes upon changes.