Evidence for a lost Supermarine carrier fighter

Supermarine's Type 224 was designed for specification F.7/30 to replace the Gloster Gauntlet, lost to the Gloster Gladiator, and ended its career as a range target in 1937. Separate carrier-space and crew allocations, together with the Sea Gladiator's emergency stopgap role, suggest that the Royal Navy expected a purpose-built single-seat interceptor before the Second World War. When the expected fighter failed to appear as Spitfire production accelerated, the Navy instead began shopping abroad, first for the Wildcat and later the Hellcat and Corsair. Because the Navy did not control the Fleet Air Arm until 1939, such a project needed an Air Ministry route and a company with strong links to the Third Sea Lord's department. Vickers-Supermarine's naval relationship, fighter work, and the surviving references to a gull-wing design make it the leading candidate, but no type number or specification survives to turn that reconstruction into a proven identification.