[6] At the same time, the Hurricanes were ferried north from Pretoria on 22 and 24 May, accompanied by a Ju86[Note 1] carrying the maintenance crews and arrived in Nairobi at the end of May.

[7] By early June the pilots from Egypt had married up with their aircraft in East Africa and were declared operational.

[6] The squadron's first operational mission was an attack on the Italian Regia Aeronautica air base at Yavello in Abyssinia, on 17 June 1940.

[10] The squadron then continued operating with the remaining Gladiators and Hurricanes from airfields in Abyssinia and Sudan until the fall of Addis Ababa on 5 April 1941.

In what was later to become known as the "1 Squadron Stuka Party" the squadron destroyed 14 Ju 87s, damaged two, and shot down one of the Bf109s for the loss of just one aircraft (Lt Ray Connell, who crash-landed at Burgh-el-Arab after a rear gunner destroyed his oil pump)[14] in a forty-five-minute engagement.

The decision was overturned two days later after protests from Kesselring, on condition that all future flights were made by night.

[17] During the fighting in the Western Desert in 1941 (while operating under the 6 Squadron designation) they acquired their nickname "The Billy Boys" because whenever successful in combat, the South African pilots would shout "Jou Bielie!"

[citation needed] By July 1943, 1 Sqn had ceased operations in North Africa and were then tasked with patrolling the beaches where the landings for the invasion of Sicily were to take place.

After the successful landings of Operation Husky and the subsequent exploitation, the squadron moved to Sicily on 14 July.

[19] The squadron then moved to Italy and supported the assault on Rome, claiming 16 enemy aircraft destroyed during this battle.

[21] After the end of the war, the number of SAAF aircraft were greatly reduced, many being scrapped or sold at nominal prices.

By June 1946, the squadron was assigned to 7 Wing SAAF based at AFB Waterkloof, flying Harvards but still retaining the Spitfires.