271 Squadron was formed from Flights 357, 358, and 367 based at the former Royal Naval Air Service station of Otranto in southern Italy.

For a while the Squadron operated a detached flight at RAF Wick running a regular service to Reykjavík in Iceland using de Havilland DH.91 Albatross aircraft, but when both were lost this was abandoned, the detached flight instead acquiring de Havilland Dominies, which were used to supply remote Scottish communities.

The Squadron was transferred to the newly formed RAF Transport Command in March 1943, and was re-equipped with Douglas Dakotas from August, although a flight of Harrows were retained as air ambulances.

[2] The squadron took part in the invasion of Normandy in 1944; on D-Day it dropped men of the 3rd Parachute Brigade and towed Airspeed Horsa gliders.

[4] Another pilot of the squadron who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross during Operation Market Garden was the post-war entertainer Jimmy Edwards.