In 1954 the unit was redesignated as a Mechanical Transport Squadron and was responsible for equipping and supplying all RAF stations in Germany and The Netherlands.

The demise of 317 MT Squadron marked the end of an era, as it had been on the continent shortly after D-Day under its previous title of 317 Supply & Transport Column.

This was followed in 1947 by Operation Woodpecker in which timber and peat were supplied to the civilian population of northern Germany[citation needed] in one of the coldest winters on record.

[citation needed] They were called upon again at the start of the Berlin Airlift (Operation Plain Fare), and lastly, in the winter of 1962/3, the Squadron took a convoy of fuel trucks to the oil refineries in Rotterdam for heating oil which was delivered to hospitals in Germany during the great freeze when the canals were inoperable.

Weapon Storage Security System (WS3), each able to store up to 4 WE.177 tactical nuclear bombs, for delivery by Tornado aircraft.

A formal ceremony on 15 June officially ended a continuous Royal Air Force presence in Germany since World War II and all of the remaining Tornados had left for RAF Marham by 4 September 2001.

With the Royal Air Force having no use for site of the former RAF Brüggen, the base was handed over to the British Army on 28 February 2002 to become Elmpt Station, Javelin Barracks.

In 2020 negotiations are under way to sell it to Entwicklungsgesellschaft "Energie- und Gewerbepark Elmpt" mbH (EGE), a company founded in 2016 with the objective of converting 150 hectares (370 acres) of the area into an energy and industry park.

[22] This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency