Dunsfold declared inactive in 1946 but was used again in 1948 and 1949 as part of the Berlin Airlift. In 1950 The Hawker Aircraft Company acquired the lease of the site. In October 1960 the then Hawker Siddeley flight tested its Hawker P.1127 prototype, the development aircraft that led to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first VTOL jet fighter bomber. Final assembly of the Harrier and the Hawk trainer aircraft was at Dunsfold. Hawker Siddeley became part of British Aerospace in 1977. On 2 July 1986 British Aerospace's deputy chief test pilot Jim Hawkins was killed at Dunsfold when his developmental
Hawker 400 aircraft like tankers and strategic transports: 180 were delivered between 1992 and 1997. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force 400T trainer shares the T1-A Type certificate. In 1993 Raytheon purchased the Hawker business jets from British Aerospace, renamed the Beechjet 400 as the Hawker 400 to include it in the line and the Hawker 400XP incorporated aerodynamic, mechanical and interior improvements from the Hawker 800XP. In October 2008, Hawker Beechcraft upgraded it as the Hawker 450XP including new, more fuel efficient Pratt & Whitney PW535Ds with 2,965 pounds of thrust each but it was canceled in June 2009 due to poor