The squadron was formed from 33 Flight at St Albans in Port Elizabeth on 1 July 1942 and was deployed as a torpedo bomber / coastal reconnaissance squadron patrolling the South African coast flying aged Avro Ansons as part of Coastal Command SAAF.

[5] The German submarine U-504 had been attacking Allied shipping off Cape Agulhas from October 1942 and the squadron was deployed to search for the submarine together with HMS Express and HMS Catterick – unsuccessful patrols failed to prevent the sinking of SS Empire Chaucer, SS City of Johannesburg and US Liberty ship Anne Hutchinson (which broke in two) – the squadron did however succeed in escorting the bow portion of Anne Hutchinson under tow of the South African minesweeper HMSAS David Haigh back to port in Port Elizabeth.

[6] In May 1944 the squadron was moved to the Mediterranean with the sea party sailing from Durban on the 13 May for Port Tewfik en route to Pomigliano in Italy and the first five aircraft left AFB Swartkop on the 2 June.

[2] The squadron commenced operations in the Balkans on 30 August 1944 and was converted to Martin B-26 Marauder IIIs on 20 November 1944 flying tactical bombing missions in support of Tito partisans in Yugoslavia.

The squadron operated from Pomigliano d'Arco in Italy and remained part of the Balkan Air Force until the end of the war, when it was moved back to the Union of South Africa and disbanded on 15 July 1945.