in 1945, during the final phase of the war, newly developed subsonic jet planes like the first jet-powered bomber arado 234 were stationed at the airfield and the runway was extended by several hundred metres. at that time, many ju 88 bombers were 'parked' at reinsehlen, probably due to a lack of fuel and pilots. isolated strafing attacks aside, the airfield was never attacked or bombed on a large scale, although it was known to british air recon. on 7 april 1945, a us bomber fleet numbering over 1,000 planes entered german airspace to destroy the remaining military targets before the advance of american ground troops. the airfield at reinsehlen was on the target list, but due to cloud cover the bombers were unable to find it. as a last-ditch attempt to stop the advancing allies, an anti-tank ditch was begun and farmers from the area were ordered to plow deep furrows into the airfield's manoeuvring area to make it unusable. however, once british troops arrived, there was no resistance due to a lack of weapons and personnel. the germans handed over the airfield to the british without a fight on 17 april 1945. a few hours before, german soldiers had burned the remaining planes. damage to the airfield was quickly repaired by the british. it became known as "advanced landing ground b-154 reinsehlen" and before the war ended on 8 may (ve day), royal canadian air force planes operated from reinsehlen, including spitfires of 127 (rcaf) wing, no 403 (wolf) sqn that came to reinsehlen on 28 april.