Originally Posted by
s1c3r1a1b3b3l1e1
Plus, weren't the wingtips on the 747 added in the 1990s and 2000s? Why did it take the engineers so long to discover this and correct this? As I recall, wingtips were on the A300 and A320 for quite some time before being added to the 747.
The 747-300 first flew in 1982 and apart from the extended upper deck didn't get much of a redesign at that time, so it's wing design dates back to the 1960's. The A-320 was a completely new design that first flew in 1987, so was able to incorporate more modern design. the A-300 had very small winglets.