The squadron's motto is N Wagter in die Lug (Afrikaans) (A guard in the sky), and the badge is a springbok's head couped.

[6] In October 1941 the Tomahawks began to fly low-level ground attack sorties over northern France but they lacked the performance required for operations of this nature, so in January 1942 they were replaced by North American Mustangs.

The tactical reconnaissance and day intruder missions continued until July 1943, when the Squadron moved to Yorkshire and then in March 1944 to Scotland.

For this role the Squadron was equipped with Supermarine Spitfires although they reverted to Mustangs in December 1944 for reconnaissance missions over the Netherlands.

[6] In April 1945 the Squadron spent two weeks spotting for French warships bombarding pockets of German resistance before being transferred to Germany in August.

26 Squadron at Wunstorf and flew Spitfires and Hawker Tempests until April 1949, when it was re-equipped with de Havilland Vampires.

An advance party was moved to Aden in March 1963[9] and the remainder to RAF Kuching, Borneo in November 1963 for a one-year unaccompanied tour.

[10] It was equipped with a mixture of Beagle Bassets and Percival Pembrokes,[11] with the role of providing communication aircraft support to RAF Training Command.