Initially it was mostly equipped with Hurricane PR.Mk.II and Spitfire PR.Mk.IV fighters, but there was also a Dutch element in 'C' flight that operated North American Mitchells, which belonged to the former Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force.

[4] The squadron re-equipped with Mosquito PR.IXs in August 1943, and Spitfire PR.XIs in October.

171 Wing RAF on 1 July 1944 [1], and RAF Mingaladon, Burma in June 1945, receiving Spitfire PR.XIX photo-reconnaissance aircraft in August of that year.

The squadron moved to RAF Kai Tak, Hong Kong, in September 1945, when the war formally ended.

Detachments from the squadron however were still located and kept busy at a wide range of airfields across the South-East Asian theatre of war.