From TOCH!:
Graham Boak
Precisely.
Wed May 12, 2025 13:54
20.138.254.2
They managed to get a four-engined bomber of B-17 capability to prototype stage by the end, that's end, of the war. How many years did it take them to do that, from the start? Look at their overall productive capabilities, the size of their industry. See just how many (few) large aircraft they actually managed to build. Look at the reports of poor workmanship and low standards, how skilled personnel were taken off the shop floor and sent to war as infantrymen. Look at their problems with the DB601 and improved versions of that.
Designers could dream of greater things, but the capability was not there to realise their dreams. I don't believe that there was ever any real plans to move the Fugakku off paper - if indeed it ever got beyond the configuration layout stage. There's no evidence that they thought they could do it - just that this is what it would have looked like if.