Cunard's apparent preferential treatment by the Admiralty raises the possibility that merchant experiments also served work on armed merchant cruisers. Vickers developed an accurate dive-bomb sight that fitted the Blackburn Skua despite Air Ministry resistance to a dedicated dive bomber. The Skua's fighter designation accommodated that institutional environment, although it is judged a poor fighter and a highly accurate dive bomber. Developing the sight required testing and funding, yet it was sold to Britain and fitted the Skua's weight and space requirements precisely. That combination supports a strong suspicion of prior coordination, while the passage supplies no documentary proof of an arrangement.
Notable Point · 1:48:42-1:51:27
Commercial testing could mask an Admiralty requirement
Apparently private Cunard and Vickers testing may have served naval requirements that official policy did not openly sponsor.