The Hawker Hunter was a single engine two seat British jet fighter aircraft of the 1950s and 1960s. Powered by the non-afterburning Rolls Royce Avon axial flow turbojet, the first prototype flew in 1951. It was Britain's first indigenous swept wing fighter to enter service and briefly held the world speed record in 1953. It formed the backbone of the Royal Air Force fighter force from 1954-1961 and remained in front line service until the early seventies, the last examples only being withdrawn in 1995. Nearly two thousand Hunters of all types were built for a number of different air forces.