Hethel airfield was constructd in 1942 for American use and acted as a base for bomber squadrons.

After the departure of the Americans,it was assigned to RAF Fighter Command. On 25 June RAF Polish-manned North American Mustang squadrons moved into the base. In mid-1947, Hethel became a Personnel Transit Centre but was transferred to RAF Technical Training Command. However, with the downsizing of the RAF, the field was closed in 1948. For many years the base was inactive and abandoned until it was finally sold by the Air Ministry in 1964.

For a number of years the old airbase Nissen hut buildings were used to house many families awaiting the re-housing under the post-war building programme.

With the end of military control, Hethel found a new life in civilian hands becoming the manufacturing and testing site for Lotus Cars. The actual location of the factory is, in fact, on the old technical site and the manufacture of vehicles, which originally started in the old hangars and workshops, now takes place in modern buildings. Lotus utilizes parts of the airfield perimeter track and lengths of the main runway as a testing track.

The former 2nd Air Division Headquarters at Ketteringham Hall lies just to the north of the airfield. Group Lotus use it for their headquarters.

The company was formed as Lotus Engineering Ltd. by engineer Colin Chapman, a graduate of University College, London, in 1952. The first factory was in old stables behind the Railway Hotel in Hornsey. Team Lotus, which was split off from Lotus Engineering in 1954, was active and competitive in Formula One racing from 1958 to 1994. The Lotus Group of Companies was formed in 1959. This was made up of Lotus Cars Limited and Lotus Components Limited which focussed on road car and customer competition car production respectively.

The company moved to a purpose built factory at Cheshunt in 1959 and since 1966 has occupied a modern factory and road test facility at Hethel.