[Chainmail]

It's also possible that it was a couple of hard-charging mechs who put in extra time to help out some crews that had just completely a tough cross-country flight. Obviously, the mechanic or mechanics had no idea what mission they were going on or that the carbs had been tweaked deliberately.

Never ascribe untoward actions to malice when key people don't know the full picture.

[X-spurt]

Didn’t appear Slump was accusing the meddler of malice, just boneheaded stupidity.

There never fails to be one of this same type meddler “who knows best” in every crowd or at every plant, every shop. Proves that a little information is dangerous.

[Slump Tester]

It wasn't a "key" person who screwed up. It was the base commander at McClellan Field in Sacramento. He was a know-it-all, pompous ass who had nothing at all to do with the mission. He was pissed off about the secrecy and not being in the loop. He found out about all the tweaks that had been done and took it on himself to have everything put back to where the book said it should be, by God!

Unfortunately he wasn't the last REMF to get people killed.