[5][6] In July 1917, 28 Squadron moved to Yatesbury in Wiltshire for conversion to the fighter role,[7] receiving the Sopwith Camel from September 1917.

[9] On 26 October, as a result of the Austro-German offensive against Italy at the Battle of Caporetto, the British government agreed to send troops and aircraft to reinforce the Italians, and 28 Squadron was one of the squadrons ordered to Italy, arriving at Milan by rail on 12 November, with its aircraft uncrated and reassembled by 14 November.

[16] By the end of the First World War, the squadron had claimed 111 enemy aircraft destroyed, with a further 24 driven down out of control.

It numbered eleven flying aces among its ranks, with future Air Vice-Marshal Clifford MacKay McEwen, with 27 claims, being the squadron's leading scorer.

[17] The squadron returned to Britain in February 1919, first to its old home at Yatesbury, then to Leighterton in Gloucestershire and to Eastleigh in Hampshire in October 1919.

As well as its normal duties, the squadron operated an experimental air mail service from Quetta to Shimla in 1925.

[2] In April 1937, the squadron was forward deployed to Manzai in response to an uprising by supporters of Mitza Ali Khan in Waziristan.

[26] Nineteen Lysanders reached Lashio in the Shan States on 26 January,[27] with the squadron, together with the similarly equipped 1 Squadron, Indian Air Force, moved forward to Taungoo, and being fitted with racks to carry 250 lb (110 kg) bombs for direct support of the Army.

[28] On 2 February 1942, two Lysanders set out from Mingaladon carrying Lieutenant-General Thomas Hutton, General Officer Commanding Burma Command and his aide to Lashio, in the first part of Hutton's planned journey to Chongqing to meet Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek.

[29] The squadron's Lysanders carried out a number of bombing attacks against Japanese-held airfields, rail targets, river traffic and troops,[30][31] but losses were heavy,[23] and the squadron was ordered to withdraw back to India on 17 February, leaving a detachment of three Lysanders behind in Burma.

Following the successful relief of Datta Khel and the dispersal of the rebels,[36] the squadron returned to Ranchi in August.

[23] In March 1944, the squadron began to replace its machine-gun armed Hurricane IIbs with cannon-armed Hurricane IIcs,[40] while the squadron's operational tempo picked up in the early part of the year, reaching 12 sorties per day in March, while in April it supplemented its normal duties with carrying mail between Dimapur and besieged Imphal during the Battles of Imphal and Kohima.

[23] The squadron was pulled out of the front line in July 1944, returning to operations over Burma in December that year.

[23][42] After the end of the Second World War the squadron continued as a fighter-reconnaissance unit as part of the Far East Air Force.

[34] In January 1948, six of the squadron's Spitfires took part in Operation Snapdragon, an experimental deployment to Hong Kong, to test the ability to reinforce the colony in an emergency.

They flew via Kuching, Sarawak, Labuan and Clark Field in the Philippines, arriving at Hong Kong after 2 days, flying 2,305 miles (3,710 km).

[44] From February 1952, it began receiving Vampire FB.9s, which were fitted with air conditioning, which made operations in the hot climate of Hong Kong more tolerable for the pilots.

[34] In June 1957, as a result of the 1957 Defence Review, Sek Kong was handed over the army, with 28 Squadron returning to Kai Tak.

[46] The squadron's first operational role with the Merlin was in support of SFOR at Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[47] Several aircraft and a mix of aircrew, engineers and support personnel from 28 (AC) Squadron and RAF Benson, deployed using the historic No.