The site fully opened in September 1942 and was the base of No.11 Operational Training Unit (OTU) flying the Vickers Wellington medium bomber until the RAF moved out in August 1945, the station was officially closed on 3 April 1946.

11 OTU and the airfield were involved in Operation Exodus: repatriation flights for almost 53,000 Allied personnel who had been prisoners of war in Germany.

[7] In 1977 Westcott and the Waltham Abbey research station merged to form the Propellants, Explosives and Rocket Motor Establishment.

The surviving test stands and control rooms were designated as either Grade II* or Grade II listed building and the K2 stand was named a "nationally unique test stand for the testing of large solid fuel rocket motors which has contributed to significant UK defence systems and the space programme.

[9] The business park is still home to a division of the Norwegian company Nammo, which continues the design and manufacture of the LEROS rocket engines.