Despite its retirement from front line service by the FAA during 1954, only three years following its introduction, the Attacker would be adopted by the newly formed Pakistan Air Force, who would continue to operate the type possibly as late as 1964.

The origins of the Attacker can be traced back to a wartime fighter jet project performed on behalf of the Royal Air Force (RAF).

[2] In response, British aircraft manufacturer Supermarine decided to produce their own submission, which involved designing a brand new fuselage, complete with bifurcated intakes to provide airflow to the Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet engine powering the type.

[6] On 7 July 1945, a follow-on order for 24 pre-production aircraft, six for the RAF and the remaining 18 (to Specification E1/45[4]) for the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), was placed.

In January 1945 Supermarine had been ordered to stop work on their Seagull air-sea rescue amphibian and give the Type 392 maximum priority.

[11] Following the design's rejection by the RAF, Supermarine decided to approach the Admiralty with an offer of developing a navalised version of the project.

[12] The Air Ministry issued Specification E.1/45[clarification needed] to cover production aircraft; meeting its various requirements necessitated a range of extensive modifications to be made to the design, including a revised fin and tailplane arrangement, as well as an increased internal fuel capacity.

[2] Flight testing was largely conducted at Supermarine's newly created experimental establishment at the former RAF Chilbolton.

According to aviation author Bill Gunston, this tail-dragger undercarriage meant that, when operating from grass airfields, the jet exhaust would create a long furrow in the ground that "three men could lie down in".

The chief designer at Vickers-Supermarine, Mr. Joseph Smith, claimed that testing had validated the performance of the tail-dragger undercarriage as acceptable.

[citation needed] On 5 May 1950, the first production variant of the aircraft, designated Attacker F.1, performed its first flight; one year later, deliveries of the type commenced.

[2] While originally designed to a wartime requirement for the RAF, it was not introduced until the early 1950s, and was ultimately developed for use aboard aircraft carriers.

[17] The Attacker had a relatively strong structure, making extensive use of heavy-gauge materials, principally aluminium alloy, which were used with stressed-skin construction and supported by 24 closely spaced stringers and formers.

[18] The nose had an unusual lobster-claw structure, comprising thick laminated aluminium-alloy sheet at the top and bottom, with no stiffening members; it gave armour protection to the pilot and carried pressurisation loads.

[19] The exterior skins were flush-riveted and manufactured with considerable care in an attempt to achieve the laminar flow predicted from wind tunnel tests.

[2] On this model, the Supermarine Attacker was furnished with a total of eight underwing hard points, which could carry a pair of 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs or a maximum of eight unguided rockets.

11 Squadron's Attackers remained operational for seven years with the last examples withdrawn from service in 1956 when they were replaced with the North American F-86F Sabres.