Maintenance access gives Swordfish its decisive advantage

Were the other torpedo-bomber proposals close to beating the Swordfish?

Yes; the Blackburn rival was close, but Swordfish won a narrow operational advantage through ruggedness, engine reliability, and quicker maintenance access.

The Blackburn proposal came close to winning because the rival aircraft offered broadly comparable performance and naval utility. Swordfish gained its edge through a rugged airframe, the reliable Pegasus engine, and easier access beneath the aircraft for torpedo loading and engine work. That access is described as Fairey borrowing from, or paying homage to, Blackburn practice, including the raised undercarriage that opened the underside for servicing. The difference in any single maintenance action could be only a minute, but those minutes accumulated across repeated servicing cycles at sea. Fairey's design therefore offered a small but persistent readiness advantage rather than a dramatic performance victory. Blackburn's later success manufacturing most Swordfish airframes also shows that losing the design competition did not mean lacking industrial competence.