A carrier bomber with a 4,000-pound payload

Could the Royal Navy develop a twin-engine carrier bomber able to carry a 4,000-pound bomb?

It could carry a 4,000-pound total load, but several smaller bombs or two torpedoes would be structurally and tactically more useful than one 4,000-pound bomb.

A twin-engine carrier aircraft could carry about 4,000 pounds of weapons, but concentrating the whole load in one bomb would complicate dive or toss bombing. Reinforcing a single attachment point for that load would require a much heavier airframe. Four 1,000-pound bombs spread the load across several points and give more chances to hit a maneuvering ship. Two 2,000-pound bombs or two torpedoes offer other ways to use the payload. The interwar Royal Navy's preference for torpedo attack fits this problem: underwater damage admits water directly, while a large bomb must hit and cause sufficiently serious damage to sink its target.