The squadron last operated the Panavia Tornado F3 from RAF Leuchars, Scotland, in the air defence role, until it was disbanded in July 2009.

18 Reserve Squadron[2] as a unit of the Royal Flying Corps, and was equipped with various types, which it used for training until December 1916 when Sopwith 1½ Strutters arrived.

[3] During the course of the war, ten aces served in the squadron, including Henry Woollett, Cecil Frederick King, John Lightfoot Trollope, Geoffrey Bailey, Harold Balfour, Charles C. Banks, Hector Daniel, George Lingham, and John Womersley, all surviving the war.

It was the first German aircraft to fall on English soil in World War II (although it was not the first to be shot down in the United Kingdom, that having occurred in Scotland).

[citation needed] In 1944, as the tide of war turned in favour of the Allies, the squadron moved to France, where it was known by the local French population as "les coqs Anglais".

By then the squadron's main role was ground attack, strafing and occasionally dive bombing enemy targets.

On 9 September 1944, Wing Commander Barrie Heath, flying Spitfire Mk.IX MJ628, led a formation on the squadron's first sortie into German territory, strafing motor transport and railway communications.

[17] The Fighting Cocks sent another detachment on 24 September, this time to Nairobi, Kenya, with the main purpose being to provide a flying display at the Royal Show, before returning to Khormaksar on 6 October.

[17] Between April and May 1964, the squadron participated in the Radfan Campaign known as Operation Nutcracker, providing close air support (CAS) for ground troops.

[16] On 11 August, another Hunter was lost when XE624 suffered an engine flame out shortly after take-off and couldn't be recovered, pilot Fg.

[22] Sorties picked back up in March, with 94 being flown in total, with 80 of these being a response to MiGs from the United Arab Republic Air Force who were entering into Aden's airspace.

[22] Between 10 and 25 June, the squadron deployed to RAF Masirah to undergo a training exercise which included high level reconnaissance sorties over Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, and Muscat, Oman, as well as practising a hypothetical war situation.

[22][23] The squadron ended the year with a strike being conducted on 31 December in the Wādī Taym area in support of 45 Commando who requested assistance.

[22] On 16 and 29 January 1966, the Fighting Cocks flew naval co-operation exercises with HMS Eagle, which saw 2 versus 2 combat being carried out against de Havilland Sea Vixens.

43 (F) Squadron carried out a preemptive strike on an arms shipment in Jabal Al Urays to prevent it from being received by a local dissident leader.

[25] The squadron carried out another attack on Wādī Bana on 21 June, using RP-3 high explosive rockets and the Hunter's gun pack.

[25] August saw the Fighting Cocks flying 101 sorties, this included an attack by eight Hunter FGA.9s on the fort at Shurjan, that had been taken over by the National Liberation Movement, which was struck by 89 rockets and 2,940 rounds of ammunition.

[25] On 24 September, six Hunters launched as a show of force to three different forts in Wādī Hadhramaut, which were over 250 miles away from Khormaksar, after the Hadhrami Bedouin Legion called for assistance.

[25] October 1967 was the squadron's busiest month while based at RAF Khormaksar with a 159 sorties being flown, with an average of 1 hour 40 minutes each.

43 (F) Squadron was formally disbanded,[8] marked by a flypast of six Hunters, however operations officially continued up until November when South Yemen was given independence,[25] with the last No.

[27] The squadron officially reformed at Leuchars on 1 September 1969, operating as part of Northern Quick Reaction Alert (QRA).

[8] The Fighting Cocks received the FG.1 (which had an extendable nose wheel oleo strut among a few other differences), as opposed to the FGR.2 operated by other RAF units, due to the cancellation of refit works on HMS Eagle.

[29] The Fighting Cocks deployed ten Phantoms to RAF Luqa between February and March 1973 for an Armament Practice Camp (APC), and were later joined by aircraft from HMS Ark Royal.

[30] On 9 July 1981, the squadron lost Phantom FG.1 XT866 after an instrument failure on approach to Leuchars which led to a loss of control, both crew safely ejected.

43 (F) Squadron crew and personnel were tasked with QRA duty (short notice air defence 'scrambles'), both in Fife, and in the Falklands as part of No.

43 Squadron Standard is emblazoned with a black gamecock badge on a field of sky blue and surrounded with the following honours: Western Front 1917–1918, Ypres 1917, Somme 1918, Dunkirk, Battle of Britain 1940, North Africa 1942–1943, Anzio and Nettuno, and France and Germany 1944.