Postwar expansion of the facilities was called for by rapid development of military and civil jet aircraft such as the Vampire and Comet. The de Havilland Aircraft Company was acquired by Hawker Siddeley in 1960 and the de Havilland name ceased to be used in 1963. Hatfield once again changed ownership when Hawker Siddeley was merged with the British Aircraft Corporation and Scottish Aviation under the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act to form British Aerospace in 1978.
In 1992, due to severe financial problems, British Aerospace announced the cessation of aircraft production at Hatfield from 1993. Friday, 8 April 1994, was Hatfield’s last day as an airfield, a DH Chipmunk – the type that had made the first landing on the new runway – was also the last plane to take off from it.
The redevelopment of the main airfield site commenced in the late 1990s. The airfield closed but was later used as a film set for Saving Private Ryan and the television series Band of Brothers. Only the listed flight test hangar and administration buildings were retained, all other buildings, taxiways and runway were removed to make way for new offices, businesses and homes. Today the flight test hangar survives as a leisure centre, whilst the rest of the site is divided between the University of Hertfordshire, housing and a business park.
I accompanied Other Dan to the inaugural Ellenbrook Fields parkrun with Other Dan picking me up from Hanger Lane for the reasonably short drive to Hatfield. We rarely attend inaugural events – the high attendance can feel too demanding for the new event team, it has the potential to cause problems for the local environment, and as a parkrun tourist you don’t really get a feel for the community of the event. In this instance the new event team were welcoming for tourists to visit the inaugural, we were both available for a short road trip, and the location was reasonably close with a quick journey.