By the end of August 1935, work on the airframe had been completed at Hawker's Kingston upon Thames facility and the aircraft components were transported to Brooklands, Surrey, where Hawker had an assembly shed; on 23 October 1935, the prototype was fully re-assembled. Ground testing and taxi trials took place over the following two weeks. On 6 November 1935, the prototype "K5083" took to the air for the first time at the hands of Hawker's chief test pilot, Flight Lieutenant George Bulman. Bulman was assisted by two other pilots in subsequent flight testing; Philip Lucas flew some of the experimental test flights, while John Hindmarsh conducted the firm's production flight trials. As completed, the prototype had been fitted with ballast to represent the aircraft's armament prior to the acceptance of the final multi-gun wing armament.