to Chivenor, including Handley Page Halifaxes of Nos 517 and 521 Squadrons which flew 10-hour sorties to collect weather information. At the same time the station played host to No 248 Squadron (de Havilland Mosquitoes), No 254 Squadron (Beaufighters), and the Supermarine Spitfires and Miles Martinets of No 691 Squadron, Army Air Corps. In October 1946, No. 11 Group RAF Fighter Command took command of the station with No. 203 Advanced Flying School. This lasted until July 1949 when the station was transferred to 5 and 7 Squadrons, Army Air Corps and No. 1 Overseas Ferry Unit. This latter unit had the duties to ferry Gloster Meteors, de Havilland Vampires and Mosquitoes to the Middle East and the Far East. 1950—1974 In February 1950 the Chivenor station flight was formed with de Havilland Tiger Moths. It was at this time that post-war civilian flying restarted, with Wrafton flying club later changing its name to the Puffin flying club. At this time the RAF was operating as No. 229 Operational Conversion Unit which flew Vampires and Meteors. Then in mid 1955 the first of the Hawker Hunter operational conversion courses was started: flying was still mainly on the Vampire FB5 with approximately 20 hrs on the Hunter F1 before pilots were sent to their operational squadrons. During the next two years the Vampires were phased out and the course became all Hunter once the Hunter T7, a two-seater trainer version, became available. There were 2 squadrons called simply 1 and 2, each capable of training a student from conversion to operational and weaponry training. Operational Units were 229 OCU, consisting of 2 squadrons and Chivenor Station Flight. In May 1957 the RAF exercise 'Vigilant' changed Chivenor's Squadrons' status. They assumed a wartime reserve role and were renumbered as Nos 145 and 234 Squadrons. The squadrons were now flying the Hunter F4 and T7 until the F4 was replaced by the F6. The two squadrons were numbered and then renumbered until they became 63 (Reserve) and 79 (Reserve) Squadrons, tasked with training RAF fighter pilots. Hunter FR.10 fighter reconnaissance aircraft were also flown by 229 OCU in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In March 1967 the oil tanker ran aground on Seven Stones Reef near Lands End, spilling oil. For three days, Hunters from Chivenor and other bases fired training rockets at the ship to hole it below the waterline, before