[1] The design team studied the potential adaption of the aircraft, having opted to use the Rolls-Royce Griffon-powered Fury prototype as the starting point.

[3] Official interest had also cooled by the expression of doubts voiced by Rolls-Royce Limited on the viability of the bifurcated jet pipes that the design used.

[5] Shortly following the end of the war, the RAF decided to cancel several large orders for Hawker's piston-powered aircraft and to announce that the service would be taking no further interest in the P.1040 proposals.

[4] Hawker elected to refine the P.1040 design as a private venture, albeit being prepared with a view for service with British military customers in mind.

[2] In October 1945,[6] Sydney Camm, Hawker's chief designer, being satisfied with the results generated from engineering mock-ups and wind tunnel testing, authorised a production order for a prototype by the company's experimental department.

[4] Hawker quickly found their development focus for the type being divided between the naval P.1046 and the general-purpose P.1040, which was still hoped to be viable as an RAF fighter.

[4] On 2 September 1947, the P.1040 prototype, VP401, sometimes referred to as the Hawker N.7/46 after the related naval specification, conducted its maiden flight from RAF Boscombe Down, piloted by Bill Humble.

[9] Other minor issues were addressed, including high stick forces and windscreen distortion; VP401 needed long take-off runs which were attributed to the "low-thrust" Nene 1.

[9] In April 1949, VP413 was transferred to the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious to conduct general deck and handling trials at sea.

[12] Other changes included the addition of fixtures for rocket-assisted take-off gear (RATOG) and hard points plumbed for external drop tanks.

Although the trials were successful, the project was abandoned when the introduction of more powerful engines obviated the need radically to adapt the design to the concept of combat aircraft without undercarriages.

VP401 was later converted into a further prototype, the Hawker P.1072, the principal addition being in the form of an auxiliary rocket engine; configured as such, it became the first British rocket-powered aircraft.

[14] Immediately following the receipt of the first order in November 1949, Hawker set about establishing a manufacturing line for the Sea Hawk at their Kingston facility.

[16] The issuing of a 'Super-Priority' status for the Sea Hawk by Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1951, served to speed up production considerably as well as aid the supply of vital materials for its manufacture.

[17] To suit this role, much of the development work went into its range of external stores, although the clearance of these for service was disrupted by a lack of Royal Navy personnel.

The final Sea Hawk standard, FGA 6, was a fighter ground-attack variant, the same as its FB 5 predecessor, though they were new-build aircraft rather than re-engined ones.

[21] The next variant of the Sea Hawk was developed into a fighter-bomber, the FB 3, and differed only slightly from its predecessors; its structure being strengthened to allow it to carry a wider array of equipment and weaponry on its four hard points, these included rockets, bombs, napalm, mines, reconnaissance cameras, external drop tanks and fixtures for RATOG.

The Sea Hawk was a reliable and elegant aeroplane, though its cautious design meant it would only be attractive on the export market and be in production for only a short period before being superseded by more advanced aircraft.

The first production Sea Hawk was the F 1, which first flew in 1951, entered service two years later with 806 Squadron, first based at Brawdy, then transferred to HMS Eagle.

[24] In 1956, shortly after the termination of the Sea Hawk production line, the Federal Republic of Germany placed an order for 68 aircraft to equip the Bundesmarine, the West German navy, considering them good value for money.

[24] The Mk 50 was externally similar to the Royal Navy aircraft, differing in its use of a Philips-built ultra high frequency (UHF) radio; Dutch Sea Hawks were later equipped to each carry a pair of AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air missiles.

[26] The last export customer was India which ordered 24 new Sea Hawks and 12 refurbished ex-FAA Mk 6s in 1959, following up with 30 additional airframes reconstructed from West German stocks, among others.

[26] The Sea Hawk saw extensive service during the Suez Crisis, when joint Anglo-French forces invaded Egypt on 31 October 1956 in Operation Musketeer.

[30] In 1961, the Sea Hawks that served on her were moved ashore when the Dutch commitment to NATO was changed to maritime patrol using ASW aircraft; by October 1964 they had been taken out of service.

The last operational Royal Navy Sea Hawks were FGA.6 flown by the Airwork Limited managed "black" Fleet Requirements Unit based at Bournemouth (Hurn) Airport which retired the type in 1969.