The Great Lakes Aircraft Company, who had previously built 18 TG-1 and 32 TG-2 variants of the Martin T4M,[REF] received an order from the U.S. Navy for a prototype two seat dive bomber capable of carrying a 1,000 lb (454 kg) bomb in 1933 [REF].
The resulting design was a single engined biplane with single bay, unequal span tapered wings and a fixed tailwheel undercarriage.