The P.112 was developed from the successful Boulton Paul Balliol, an advanced trainer powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlinpiston engine, sharing the same fuselage as the Balliol but with new high aspect ratio wings and a non-retractable spatted undercarriage of 15 ft 2 in (4.62 m) track.[1][2][verification needed] The trainer was equipped with three seats, similar to the Balliol and looked so like the earlier aircraft that the image in the brochure was actually a retouched Balliol T.1.[3] However, the Royal Air Force preferred the smaller de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk to the P.112 and so no production ensued.[3]