Despite a number of previous air racing successes by British companies, a new generation of monoplane airliners that were then being developed in America had no viable rival in Britain at the time. Geoffrey de Havilland, a British aviation pioneer and founder of aircraft manufacturing firm de Havilland, was determined that, for the sake of National prestige, Britain should put up a serious competitor. While the company board recognised that there would be no prospect of recouping the full investment in producing such a machine, they believed that the project would also enhance the company's prestige and, perhaps more importantly, provide much-needed experience in the development of modern fast monoplanes.