On 12 May 1940, over the Albert Canal, Belgium, one bridge in particular was being used by the invading German Army, with protection from fighter aircraft, anti-aircraft and machine-guns.

After the fate of Belgian Battles attacking the day before, the commander asked for volunteers and every pilot stepped forward; the six crews on standby were chosen.

[6] During the diversion, A Flight dived over the Maastricht−Tongeren road towards the Vroenhoven bridge covered by three Hurricanes; a Bf 109 closed on the leading aircraft, then veered off towards the second Battle, which hid in a cloud.

The pilot turned away through a web of tracer from ground fire and was hit by a Bf 109, then the rear gunner damaged the German fighter.

The pilot nursed the bomber home but ran out of fuel a few miles short and landed in a field; the observer got back to Amifontaine but the gunner was taken prisoner.

[8] One Battle was hit and caught fire before the target, bombed and crashed near the canal; the pilot, despite severe burns, saving the crew who were taken prisoner.

[8] The attack met intense anti-aircraft fire, but the mission was accomplished, much of the success being due to the coolness and resource of the pilot Flying Officer Garland of the leading aircraft and the navigation of Sergeant Gray.

[10] Amongst other missions, the squadron carried out anti-invasion strikes against shipping in Boulogne Harbour in northern France, most notably on 17 and 19 August.

[1] On 1 July 1962, the squadron was re-formed to operate eight Avro Vulcan V bombers equipped with Yellow Sun one megaton free-fall strategic nuclear bombs for medium to high altitude release.

The advent of effective Soviet surface-to-air-missiles made high-flying bombers vulnerable, and in late 1966 the squadron took delivery of eight WE.177B strategic nuclear laydown bombs for low-level penetration missions.

It was assigned to Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) as part of the UK strategic nuclear forces deployed with that 450 kt weapon, that was intended as a temporary stop-gap until the UK Polaris force began to take over the strategic nuclear delivery role.

12 Squadron was eventually re-formed at RAF Honington in Suffolk on 1 October 1969 with twelve Blackburn Buccaneer aircraft assigned to Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT) in the anti-shipping role, equipped with twelve WE.177 nuclear bombs and free-falling conventional high explosive bombs,[17] and from 1974 with Martel missiles for non-nuclear strike.

The film features the squadron's deployment from Honington to RAF Gibraltar in the Mediterranean for NATO exercise Open Gate, where they carry out a low-level anti-shipping mission.

[22] Following a short-notice decision to deploy to the Middle East, the first batch of six aircraft were brought to readiness in under 72 hours, including the adoption of desert-pink camouflage and additional war-time equipment.

Each aircraft had a Jolly Roger flag painted on its port side, alongside nose art featuring female characters.

[23] Hostilities ended in late February 1991, the Buccaneers having flown 218 sorties without loss, designating targets for other aircraft and later dropping 48 Paveway II laser-guided bombs.

Deployments to the Persian Gulf continued, flying the upgraded Tornado GR4 from 2001, and included major contributions in 2003 as part of Operation Telic as well as supporting the first free elections in Iraq for 50 years in January 2005.

Shortly afterwards, as British troops withdrew from the country, the Tornado fleet based in the region also returned to the UK, marking the end of a long era of the aircraft in theatre.

[27] Between 6 and 16 October 2008, the squadron deployed to RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, to participate in Exercise Crown Condor alongside Saab JAS 39 Gripens from the Blekinge Wing of the Swedish Air Force.

12 (B) Squadron was deployed in support of Operation Ellamy, the UK's participation in the military intervention in Libya under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.

This saw ten aircrew deploy to Gioia del Colle in southern Italy to bolster the Tornado component during the peak of operations.

The remainder of the squadron was held at readiness to move to RAF Marham to launch Storm Shadow raids on hardened Libyan targets.

II (AC) Squadron's disbanding and reformation would be put on hold to allow Tornados to continue to support operations against ISIL.

[40] In August 2015, Jane's reported that the squadron will stay active for a longer period[41] and it was subsequently deployed to Syria for reconnaissance of ISIS troop movements.

[44] The squadron reformed on 24 July 2018 as a joint RAF/Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) unit at Horse Guards in London.