18 (Reconnaissance) Group,[7][failed verification] both of RAF Coastal Command, but was finally closed at the end of the Second World War when it was transferred to the Ministry of Civil Aviation on 1 July 1946, reverting to Stornoway Airport.

[citation needed] When a trawler inadvertently passed through one of the clouds of plague bacteria, the ship and crew were temporarily put under covert surveillance during their return from Iceland to Blackpool and onshore.

[13] Results were passed back to Operations Research Branch, (HQBC), BCDU at RAF Finningley, and each aircraft's base for the electronics engineers and technicians to review for performance improvement of each piece of equipment that was measured.

[12] The combined success of 112 S.U., BCDU at RAF Finningley, and each of the aircraft's bases, along with the Operations Research Branch at (HQBC) and technical support from RRE Malvern (later to become RSRE Malvern) was demonstrated by the V-force during the Operation Skyshield exercises[14] and readiness through the Cuban Missile Crisis in the early sixties,[15] and subsequent exercises[16] until the time the unit was closed in 1983.

In the early 1980s, part of the airport was upgraded in a £40 million programme consisting of extensions of the main runway and taxiways, along with new hangars, designed to accept RAF Panavia Tornado aircraft.

[17] By 1 April 1982, this work was completed, the buildings commissioned, and RAF Stornoway was established once again in order to become a forward operations base (FOB).

Following this, some of the technical and administrative buildings were further sold, one becoming a Christian school, whilst others including the Nissen hut accommodation blocks were demolished.