From the outset, the design had been viewed as a fall-back option in case the more advanced strategic bomber aircraft, then in development to equip the Royal Air Force's nuclear-armed V bomber force, experienced delays; the Sperrin was not put into production because these swept-wing designs, such as the Vickers Valiant, were by then available.

[3] The exact requirements included that the fully laden weight would be under 100,000 pounds (45.36 tonnes), the ability to fly to a target 1,500 nautical miles (1,700 mi; 2,800 km) distant at 500 knots (580 mph; 930 km/h) with a service ceiling of 50,000 ft (15,000 m) and again that it should be simple enough to maintain at overseas bases.

The Air Ministry accepted that the requirement might prove to be difficult to achieve in the time-scale required and prepared for a fall-back position by re-drafting B.14/46 as an "insurance" specification against failure to speedily develop the more advanced types that evolved into the Vickers Valiant, Avro Vulcan and Handley Page Victor,[6][7] as this was to be a less ambitious conventional type of aircraft, with un-swept wings and some sacrifice in performance.

[8] According to aviation authors Bill Gunston and Peter Gilchrist, the specification's ignorance of a swept wing was odd for the era, and had been made in order to allow the prospective bomber to be delivered more quickly.

[9] A total of four firms submitted tenders to meet the B.14/46 specification, Shorts' submission was selected as it had been judged to be superior.

The selection of Shorts was "astonishing" according to Bill Gunston and Peter Gilchrist, and noted that their submission, while being a sound design, had apparently been subject to luck.

[10] Bill Gunston and Peter Gilchrist commented that, if a subsequent production order had been issued, an initial operational squadron could have been equipped by late 1953.

[12] The airframe was built largely of light aluminium alloys, principally 75ST; the light-alloy stressed-skin had a very smooth surface which contributed to the low drag of the aircraft.

[3][13] The Sperrin employed a traditional straight wing, although the fixed leading edge was slightly swept and featured curved fillets at the junction with the engine nacelles.

[3] Neither armament nor countermeasures were installed in either of the prototypes; according to Bill Gunston and Peter Gilchrist, the required bombload of 20,000 lb (9,100 kg) would have been easily achievable and could have been increased.

[13] The first prototype (serial VX158), powered by four Rolls-Royce Avon RA.2 engines of 6,000 lbf (27 kN) of thrust and piloted by Tom Brooke-Smith, had its maiden flight on 10 August 1951.

The second prototype (VX161) flew for the first time on 12 August 1952 with Squadron Leader "Wally" Runciman at the controls, accompanied by Flight Test Development Engineer Malcolm Wild.

Data from Flight International[25]General characteristics Performance Armament Across the two aircraft, the Sperrin had four different engine configurations: