[2][3] The airfield was closed at the end of the Second World War, but re-opened in 1947 as the home of the Joint Anti-Submarine School RAF, a training flight flying Avro Shackleton aircraft, which had formed at Londonderry on 19 September 1945.

In 1957 and again in 1958, 240 Squadron was among those involved in Operation Grapple, nuclear weapon testing on Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean.

The main runway (the one which crossed the railway) was extended again in 1963 to 7,500 feet to allow for potential dispersal of the RAF's V bomber force.

Sqn Ldr Clive Haggett and his crew, a total of 12 men, were killed when their aircraft flew into the Mull of Kintyre early one rainy morning.

[2] The following units were here at some point:[5] On 29 March 2006, an Airbus A320 aircraft operated by Eirjet on behalf of Ryanair landed at Ballykelly after the pilot mistook the runway for that of nearby City of Derry Airport.