The original design was a private venture, its distinguishing feature its four-gun armament at a time when two machine guns were standard.

The water-cooled engine's chin radiator sat behind a roller blind shutter, close to the twin-bladed propeller.

The simple single axle undercarriage was mounted on a pair of inverted V-struts joining the fuselage ahead and aft of the lower wing.

[2] The broader chord, greater span upper wing carried the ailerons, initially unbalanced but quickly modified to Frise hinged type to lighten the feel.

The reports were very critical: the A.10 suffered from longitudinal instability and was almost impossible to hold at constant speed in dives or in the climb.

[4] Curiously, in view of the A&AEE's comments on the problems the A.10's longitudinal instability would pose it as a gun platform, it was used by the Establishment to explore the effects of multi-gun armament, trials also involving the Gloster SS.19.