After the war it flew briefly as a transport squadron before being reformed a light bomber unit with the Second Tactical Air Force within RAF Germany.

In October 1938 the squadron became part of the newly formed No 4 Group (Bomber Command) based at RAF Driffield, Yorkshire and was re-equipped with the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley.

The squadron was active from the second day of the Second World War, dropping leaflets in the night from 4 to 5 September 1939 over Germany.

By February 1942, the squadron was adopted by Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, and the Whitleys were replaced by the Handley Page Halifax.

The squadron continued for the next thirty-six months to fly night sorties (including the thousand bomber raids) over Germany.

[11] Pilot Officer (later Flight Lieutenant) Alfred B. Thompson, a pilot in 102 Squadron, was (on 9 September 1939) the first Canadian to be captured in the Second World War, is the Canadian who was the longest held ever as a prisoner of war, and was a participant in the Great Escape (Stalag Luft III escape) (he was the 68th man to go out through the tunnel).

The log book of Flight Lieutenant Leonard Todd DFC from August 1943 shows the frequency and range of the missions flown by the 102 Squadron.