Why was the Fairey Barracuda not designed with an internal bomb bay?
Short answerThe exact choice needs design records, but layout, torpedo carriage, and repeated engine-driven redesigns all constrained it.
NotesAn internal bomb bay might have conflicted with weight, structure, hard points, or the torpedo requirement, though the exchange does not identify the deciding factor. The Barracuda was expected to enter service around 1941. Repeated Air Ministry decisions to withhold proposed engines forced the design through additional revisions. Its final configuration and delay therefore belonged to a wider competition for scarce aero engines as well as to the aircraft's own design choices.