In August 1923, British aircraft manufacturers were invited to submit designs to Air Ministry Specification 26/23, which called for a single Rolls-Royce Condor-engined two-seat day or night bomber.

It was a fabric-covered all-metal structured three-bay biplane, with equal span, unswept and unstaggered wings with Frise-type ailerons on the upper and lower planes.

The horizontal tail was positioned at the top of the fuselage and braced below, carrying elevators whose balances protruded beyond the fixed surfaces.

The undercarriage was of wide track, mounted to the wings below the centre section interplane struts and braced to the fuselage.

Other aircraft competing for production contracts were the Handley Page Handcross, the Hawker Horsley and the Westland Yeovil.