Back in 1934 the Air Ministry issued a specification called P.4/34 calling for a light bomber that could also play the close-range support role to replace the Fairey Battle. Three companies, Fairey, Gloster and Hawker presented proposals but contracts were granted only for those designs of Hawker and Fairey. The P.4/34 was a low-wing metal monoplane powered by Rolls Royce Merlin I which yielded 1.030 hp of power. It had a crew of two accommodated in tandem position under a long-glazed canopy. Its configuration was similar to that of the previous Battle bomber, but the P.4/34 was smaller and had a wider track, inwards retracting undercarriage. It was prepared for dive bombing, as the specification required, and carried its load of two 250 lb (110 kg) underwing, while the competing design, the Hawker Henley, had an internal bomb bay. Apart from the bombs, the P.4/34 was armed with just one forward-firing 0.303 in machine gun placed in the nose.
Two P.4/34 were ordered, with the first flying on 13th January 1937. For comparison, the prototype Hawker Henley flew on 10th March 1937. When tested, the Hawker was clearly superior but, as the need for a light-bomber had changed, it entered service as a target tug.
The P.4/34 served as the basis for a two-seat long-range carrier-based fighter for the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) to meet the requirements of the specification O.8/38. The second P.4/34 prototype was modified to reduce its wing span and its tail-plane was lowered to make it more aerodynamic for the Fulmar. It was later used to test retractable Fairey-Youngman flaps which would eventually be used on the Fairey Firefly.
In 1938 the first prototype was at Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) Farnborough, where it was used for testing the effects of barrage balloons, by deliberately flying it into a weighted cable hung beneath (not the actual tether cable). Testing was carried out at RAF Lakenheath, in Suffolk, and at Pawlett, in Somerset, from September 1938. The whole process was filmed by a chasing Battle from RAF Mildenhall. The P.4/34 was later joined by another Battle, both of them were reinforced to withstand the impacts but severe damage to the fuselage was, nonetheless, usual. Most of the flights were made by Johnny Kent, as the original intended pilot, Arthur E. Clouston had taken leave to go for the London-New Zealand speed record. Kent accumulated more than 300 collisions and was awarded The Air Force Cross for his efforts. He said about the P.4: "a delightful aeroplane through all manoeuvres, except for the spin, which was really vicious".
In 1938 a contract was signed between the Royal Danish Navy and Fairey for building, under license, the P.4/34 in Denmark. It would've been manufactured at the Danish Naval Shipyard, in Copenhagen. In 1939, they received the order to manufacture 12 machines, however, none of them was completed when Germany occupied Denmark in April 1940.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_P.4/34
2. http://www.navalhistory.dk/English/NavAir/NavalAviation.htm
3. http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/fairey_p4-34.php
4. https://www.valka.cz/Fairey-P-4-34-t197999
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