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Um benjamin whazzhizname built a replica from the archived plans and found out that you get an aileron reversal at certian angles of attack, notably the pylon turns and landing. So the pilots of the time just made the situation worse and got flutter started. Since "Granny" welded the flying wires and did not heat treat/ stress relieve them it went down hill really fast after that causing a rain of aircraft parts.
You are correct in noting that the entire plane was essentially a streamlined fairing for the engine
There have been a couple replicas since with different airfoils that are reported to actually have pleasant handling for something that insane. I am not sure of the status of these since I gave up all my flying interests
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