[3] Construction was primarily in wood with conventional tri-plane strut-braced wings and a monocoque fuselage built up from ply veneers.

[4][clarification needed] The Tabor was originally planned as a biplane powered by four 600 hp Siddeley Tiger engines.

Ailerons were fitted only on the middle wing, which Flight magazine commented on as possibly affecting their efficiency.

The monocoque construction gave a large open space within the fuselage described as the length of a cricket pitch in Flight magazine.

Wheeled out at daybreak the Tabor, with two pilots (Captain Frederick Dunn AFC[9] with Rawlings as his assistant pilot) and five others (Captain Wilson of the Air Ministry, Lt Adams in charge of engines[b], superintendent of the department at the RAE Mr Grosert, and two mechanics) was taxied around the landing field in a "mile-wide circle" using only the four lower engines.

[3][10] Later analysis suggested that the upper engines were so far above the fuselage that they forced the nose down when driven up to full power.

The situation may not have been helped by the addition of 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of lead ballast in the nose against the wishes of Tarrant.