In February 1937, following consideration of the designs, the Air Ministry selected Avro's submission, with Handley Page's bid chosen as "second string". Accordingly, during April 1937, the Air Ministry ordered two prototypes of each design. The introduction of the successful P.13/36 candidates was delayed by the necessity of ordering additional Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley and Vickers Wellington bombers first. In mid-1937, it was decided to order both the Avro 679 and HP56 designs "off the drawing board" in order to speed up delivery timetables.