After reforming in 1931 it again operated a variety of bi-plane bombers before seeing action during WWII on a number of fronts with the Bristol Blenheim.

[4] It arrived in France on 19 November 1915,[5] principally equipped with the Vickers FB5 'Gunbus', supplemented by a few Airco DH.2s and Bristol Scouts, and operating in the Army cooperation role.

[4] The squadron re-equipped with Airco DH.4s from June 1917,[4] although operations continued with F.E.2 until at least August 1917[9] as its DH.4s were equipped with the unreliable RAF 3 engine.

[4][10] Once these reliability problems were solved, the squadron, began to specialise in long-range attacks, but this changed in March 1918 when the Germans launched Operation Michael, the opening move of their Spring Offensive.

[14] Following the Armistice of 11 November 1918 that ended the fighting on the Western Front, 18 Squadron moved into Germany in support of the Occupation of the Rhineland in early 1919, carrying mail between the British Army of the Rhine and the United Kingdom.

[15][16][17] The squadron reformed at RAF Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire on 20 October 1931, equipped with the Hawker Hart light bomber.

[19] 18 Squadron transferred to 2 Group on 1 January 1939,[20] re-equipping with Bristol Blenheim I monoplane twin-engined bombers in May 1939.

[21] The wing was allocated for deployment to France as part of the BEF Air Component, with the role of strategic reconnaissance.

[22][23] 18 Squadron reached France by the end of September 1939,[16] commencing operations in October and re-equipping with Blenheim IVs in February 1940.

After the squadron was forced to change airfields three times in three days, it was ordered to evacuate back to England on 19 May, moving to RAF Watton in Norfolk.

[25] While based at Malta, the squadron's aircraft were used for attacks against targets in Sicily and North Africa, [28] as well as striking against Italian shipping convoys.

Actual German and Italian losses consisted of six Savoia-Marchetti SM.82s, four CANT Z.1007 Alciones, one Junkers Ju52 and one Fiat CR.42 Falco, with a further 42 aircraft damaged, badly disrupting Axis air transport operations to North Africa.

[32] Later that month the surviving aircraft and aircrews of 18 Squadron left Malta for the Middle East,[33] and had been absorbed into other units by March 1942.

[39] On 31 November 1942, the squadron moved forwards to Canrobert Airfield, which was closer to the front line, so that it could better support the allied ground forces.

[35][41] These losses were quickly replaced, and the squadron was back in action on 27 December 1942, although it was limited to night operations, attacking enemy road transports.

[45] On the night of 28/29 March 1943, the squadron flew its last operations with the Blenheim before standing down to re-equip with the Douglas Boston.

[47] 18 Squadron was reformed in 1953 at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire and equipped with the Canberra B.2 medium bomber before disbanding again on 1 February 1957.

The squadron was disbanded on 31 March 1963, as the RAF's Vulcan and Victor bombers were now fitted with effective ECM equipment, while the training role could be performed more economically by smaller aircraft such as the Canberra.

[47] It moved to RAF Gütersloh, Westphalia in support of the BAOR in Germany in August 1970 but disbanded again on 20 November 1980.

[53] Squadron Leader Richard "Dick" Langworthy AFC RAF was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for his part in the air operations.