Hawker's Secret Cold War Airfield: Dunsfold: Home of the Hunter and Harrier

In 1948, Hawker Aircraft, faced with new jet projects that could not use their existing airfield at Langley, began the process of searching for alternative accommodation for their flight-testing requirements.It would, however, take three hard years before Dunsfold Aerodrome would be made available by a reluctant Air Ministry and the company was able to launch its first jet aircraft design -the Sea Hawk -into series production for the Royal Navy, closely followed by the superlative Hunter.Hawker Aircraft would go on to produce nearly 2,000 Hunters before other projects came to the fore. As Hunter production continued in the late 1950s, the company looked to its successor -the Mach 2 capable air superiority fighter designated P.1121, though this would stall before flight in the wake of serious national financial short-falls.With the loss of its premier project, the company came upon a radical new engine proposal and schemed an aircraft around it capable of vertical take-off and landing.W