Fairey Fulmar, part two

The Fairey Fulmar has its roots in the P.4/34 aircraft which was developed as an answer to the specification P.4/34, which requested for a light-bomber with dive-bombing capacities.
The selected one by the Air Ministry was the Hawker Henley and it ended up being a target tug.
The Fulmar was basically a navalized version of the P.4/34. Fairey submitted its modified design to the specification O.8/38, which requested for a two-crew fighter with observation and fleet defence capabilities. Considering that the aircraft wasn't expected to find any fighter opposition, as Germany, Britain's only foreseeable enemy during this time, 1938, had no aircraft carriers. Therefore other factors such as long range and heavy armament were considered more important than a high service ceiling, manoeuvrability or speed. As the type was expected to perform routinely long flights over the ocean, a third crew member (navigator/wireless operator) was considered essential, specially when flying at night or at poor meteorological conditions.
Having a substantial resemblance to the Fairey Battle, the Fulmar prototype was aerodynamically cleaner and had a lightly shorter folding wing. The prototype of the P.4/34 flew for the first time on 13th January 1937 at Fairey's Great Western Aerodrome (nowadays London Heathrow Airport) and, after initial flight tests, some minor modifications were made to the prototype. One year later the name 'Fulmar' was selected for the type, with the name not being announced until the aircraft entered service in 1940.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Fulmar
2. Hall Park Books - Warpaint Series 41 - Fairey Fulmar
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters