Vickers developed a highly effective dive-bombing sight that fit the Blackburn Skua even though the aircraft was officially procured as a fighter. The Air Ministry did not support a separate naval dive-bomber program, while Third Sea Lord Reginald Henderson wanted that capability for carriers. Vickers offered the sight only to Britain, and its development appears to have begun within three months of Henderson becoming Third Sea Lord. That timing suggests a connection, although no documentary proof is offered. The case supplies a later precedent for using industrial initiative and procurement authority to work around institutional resistance.
Notable Point · 52:53-54:47
The Blackburn Skua illustrates discreet Admiralty sponsorship
A later procurement example suggests how a Third Sea Lord could encourage industry to develop a needed capability without a conspicuous formal program.