Fairey P.4/34

The Fairey P.4/34 was a British two-seat light bomber designed by the Fairey Aviation Company in response to Air Ministry Specification P.4/34 of 1934, which asked for a light bomber that could also work in the close-support role. It was a low-wing all-metal monoplane powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, with the crew in tandem under a long glazed canopy, stressed for dive bombing and able to carry two 250 pound bombs under the wings. Two prototypes were ordered and the first, serial K5099, flew on 13 January 1937. The rival Hawker Henley was judged better and the demand for such a bomber had changed, so the P.4/34 was not produced for the RAF, although the Royal Danish Navy bought a licence and ordered twelve that were never completed before the German invasion of 1940. The second prototype became the aerodynamic test aircraft for the Fairey Fulmar carrier fighter, and the first was used to test the effect of barrage balloon cables.