NELSON HISTORY as one of the FIRST Jet Fighter Pilots in the World:
After the war, Driffield became home to a number of training establishments.
The first, No. 10 Air Navigation School, flew from 1946, equipped with Avro Anson, twin-engined aircraft, which were employed to fly student navigators on short three-hour flights.
The unit's Wellington aircraft, endured flights of up to six hours, flying sometimes at night, down to the Channel Islands, along the English Channel and up the North Sea to Scotland.
Replaced in 1948 by No. 204 Advanced Flying School, this unit taught pilots how to fly the fast twin-engined de Havilland Mosquito fighter/bomber, an aircraft built entirely out of wood.
In 1949, the jet age reached Yorkshire, when No.203 Advanced Flying School formed at Driffield, replacing the Mosquitoes, which departed with their parent unit.
This new school would be the first in the world responsible for teaching a new breed of pilot how to fly fast jet aircraft.
There were two sections within the school: No.1 Squadron operated the Gloster Meteor, Britain's first operational jet fighter, while No.2 Squadron flew the de Havilland Vampire.