Hawkers presented the P1067 to the Air Ministry in January 1948 in answer to an earlier specification F43/46
Shortly thereafter the original specification was changed and it became Design Specification F3/48 that called for a single seat fighter capable of intercepting the new generation of bombers entering service exemplified by the B47.  Following changes to the design of P1067 it was submitted to the Air Staff in answer to the new specification.
In June 1948 Hawkers informed that a contract was to be issued for the building of three prototype P1067: two to be powered by Rolls-Royce AJ65 and the third by the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire
On 20th July 1951 first prototype powered by the RR AJ65 flown with Neville Duke at the controls

- Second Prototype with production engine flew on 5th May 1952
- Third prototype with Sapphire engine flew on 30th November 1952
- First production F1 had maiden flight on 16th May 1953
- 7th September 1953 Neville Duke set the World Absolute Speed Record of 727.6 mph – 0.934M at sea level.  
- On 19th September set a further world record on a 100 Km closed circuit at 709.2 mph
- October 1953 Air Fighting Development Squadron declared that the trailing edge flaps were unacceptable as an operational airbrake system. (This did not come as a surprise to the Design Team who had already started a remedial programme.)
- 6th February 1954 saw the first flight of a Hunter F1 with the ventral airbrake.
-  July 1954 the F1 enters service with 43 Sqn.
-  The F2 enters service with 222 Sqn. in December 1954
-  The “Big Avon” the first of the 200 series engine commenced flight trials in February 1954
-  20th October 1954 the first flight of the F4 [essentially an F1 with the increased fuel capacity] The F2 with the larger fuel capacity was redesignated as the F5
- 25th March 1955 the first Mk.6 with the big Avon engine flew
- 8th July 1955 the P1101, the prototype of the T7, had its first flight
- 3rd July 1959 first full standard FGA 9 flew
- 1980  The Buccaneer force was grounded because of  fatigue cracks and the Hunters filled the bill to keep the pilots current.
- 24th July 1984 the last formation of Hunters, 5 FGA 9s and 2 T7s, were ferried from Brawdy to St. Athan for storage.

This copy of the very well known photo of Neville Duke preparing for the first flight,  was sent to Tim Webb following their sortie in a T7 from Brawdy to Boscombe Down when Neville came down to join in the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the first flight.