Having gained consent from the French authorities, in 1939, to establish Flying Training Schools in France, the next step was to construct aerodromes.

The unit was occupied in overseeing runway repairs for the rest of that year, with some assistance in filling-in craters being provided by the Royal Pioneer Corps.

By the end of 1941, this had grown to six squadrons and, in July 1942, these units were officially given the title of the RAF Works Service.

The Branch Depot moved three times, starting first at RAF Church Lawford with plant training at Ryton-on-Dunsmore.

In addition to carrying out a variety of construction tasks in Cyprus and at El Adem, the Squadron undertook work at Tabriz and Babol-Sar in Iran.

In 1962, in Exercise Egg Flip, a detachment of the Squadron constructed a large earth landing strip at Bomba on the Libyan coast near Derna.

Between 1958 and 1961, these included projects at RAF Acklington, Abingdon, Booker, Coningsby, Faldingworth, Finningley, Hemswell, Lindholme, Lyneham, Martlesham Heath, Nocton Hall, North Luffenham, Swinderby and Syerston.

The Squadron formed the major part of Operation Hardrock Task Force on St Kilda in 1957 and 1958.

Operation Hardrock Task Force was formed from 5004 Squadron at RAF Wellesbourne Mountford early in 1957, to construct, for the Army, a missile-tracking radar station on the island of St. Kilda, an uninhabited rocky outcrop some 60 miles west of the Outer Hebrides.

The task required the opening of a quarry out there and the construction of buildings and a road, with a bridge, to the mountain-top radar site.

This Building and Civil Engineering task was challenging, because of the unpredictable, adverse nature of weather conditions out there, which precluded work being done throughout the Winter months.