Initially referred to as the Type R, work on the aircraft had begun with the intention of developing a ramp-launched vertical takeoff (VTO) fighter.

Following the end of government interest, Fairey continued to operate the sole completed FD1 to support their own research purposes up until the aircraft sustained substantial damage in a landing accident on 6 February 1956, after which it was deemed uneconomic to repair.

While the Second World War was still being fought when Fairey had begun work on the concept, the conflict's end meant that the urgency of its development was quickly curtailed as well.

[4] Prior to the development of full-scale aircraft, a number of pilotless radio-controlled scale models were produced and flown, which supplied Fairey's design team with real world data to support further work.

[2] The Fairey Type R design was a compact mid-wing tailless delta monoplane; aviation periodical Flight observed the aircraft to be "of exceptionally small dimensions".

According to aviation author Robert Jackson, the FD1 was intended to be outfitted with larger booster rockets to facilitate ramp take-offs, during which control would have been maintained via four swivelling jet nozzles on the rear fuselage.

[8] Fairey stated that the aircraft's delta wing possessed several attributes that were favourable for high speed flight, including relatively low drag characteristics and a comparatively stiff structure, along with stowage space for both fuel and armaments.

[1] The only FD1 to be completed was built at Fairey's Heaton Chapel Stockport factory and taken by road to their test facility at Manchester's Ringway Airport for final assembly.

Starting on 12 May 1950 it made several high-speed taxi runs down the 4,200-foot main runway there before being partially dismantled and transported by road to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (AAEE) at RAF Boscombe Down.

[8] During this time, it received several modifications; changes included the removal of the temporary slots, as well as the deletion of the streamlined housings for the anti-spin parachutes that were mounted at the wingtips.