No new guesses? Time for more clues
Looking for a plane:
1) This plane was developed for one thing and ended up being used for something else
2) This plane was one of the first of it's type, in more ways than one
3) This plane was so successful in it's final configuration that it beat out an ally's purpose built aircraft in the procurement process
4) This plane never saw combat but the plane it replaced did
5) One of several changes to the plane improved performance in multiple ways
6) This plane had at least three structural changes to make it capable of doing it's new task
7) One of the changes increased the length of the aircraft by several feet
8) Another change required a change in the internal framing in the bottom of the aircraft
9) The new configuration increased the crew from 4 to 13
10) This plane used tech in its original configuration that was developed during war time. One of the changes moved on to more modern tech1
11) The tech referred to in the previous clue increased the range considerably
12) A second change allowed for the carrying and use of 10 tons of payload
13) This plane was markedly faster than the ally's plane that it beat in the procurement process
14) So much faster that it is comparable to the plane that replace the one it beat in the procurement process, though the other plane needs fewer engines to reach those speeds
15) It was faster due to the different kinds of powerplants the two competing planes used
16) The ally's plane with comparable speed was converted in a similar way to the subject plane
17) In it's original configuration the subject aircraft got the reputation as a flying death trap
18) The company that built the plane had to go to extreme measures to figure out what was causing the plane to fail
Good Luck