Shuttle had wings thanks to the Air Force joining the project, then the Air Force dropped out, but Shuttle still had wings.
Of all the problems with Shuttle the wings bother me the most.
Or at least in the last forty years.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/North_America...
First prototype completed 100 days after the contract signed. In contrast it took decades to build the Eurofighter. Granted a more complex aircraft, but they didn't have CAD back then either.
The most important, I think, is that Mustang wasn't a government project, but one designed and built by a private company to meet an existing wartime need.
Eurofighter by contrast was a government job start to finish, built by three companies in three countries. Starting with a DNA like that delays and cost overruns are baked into the process.