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 Siddeley Company. In 2006 the product line was sold to a new company to be known as "Hawker Beechcraft", owned by Onex Partners and Goldman Sachs. The Hawker Siddeley name was not used to brand aircraft until 1963. Prior to this, aircraft were produced under the name of the subsidiary company (e.g. Hawker Hurricane, Hawker Sea Hawk, Gloster Javelin, Gloster Meteor). First flight date is in parentheses. The Canadian subsidiary produced rail cars, transit vehicles and engines (aircraft and ship). Hawker Siddeley Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of