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
Invincible-class aircraft carrier to evolve. The order for the first ship was given to Vickers (Shipbuilding) on 17 April 1973. By now, the design was for a 19,000 ton "CAH" (helicopter carrying heavy cruiser, styled after the US Navy hull classification symbols) with up to fourteen aircraft and a Sea Dart missile launcher on the bows. The government decided that the carrier needed fixed-wing aircraft to defend against Soviet reconnaissance aircraft. In May 1975, it authorised the maritime version of the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, which was successfully developed into the Sea Harrier. This meant that the design was reworked again to include a