Formed in August 1941, the squadron commenced operations in April the following year, flying Handley Page Hampden medium bombers.

Its main role at the time was anti-submarine duties in the Atlantic but it was soon switched to operating against German shipping and carrying out patrols over the North Sea, along the Norwegian coast.

Now flying to France and the Low Countries, the squadron supported the Allied preparations for the upcoming invasion of Normandy.

In the mid-1930s, the Royal Air Force (RAF) was in the process of expanding and required an increasing number of suitable flying personnel.

[7] At around the same time there was discussion between the governments of Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand to facilitate the co-ordination of training of air crew in the event of hostilities.

489 Squadron was formed on 12 August 1941 at RAF Leuchars, equipped with Bristol Beaufort aircraft to operate as a torpedo bomber unit of Coastal Command.

Its motto in Māori, the indigenous language of New Zealand, was Whakatanagata kia kaha, which can be translated as "Acquit ye like men, be strong".

The squadron moved to Thorney Island in the south of England from where it carried out anti-submarine patrols into the Atlantic and as far as the Bay of Biscay.

Shortly after it began these flights, one of its aircraft were attacked by Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters, the first engagement with the Luftwaffe for the squadron.

489 Squadron returned to Scotland, based at RAF Skitten, where its primary task was patrolling the Norwegian coast and attacking shipping.

It also provided aerial cover for vessels making their way to the naval base at Scapa Flow, escorted convoys to the Russian Arctic and also carried out anti-submarine patrols.

A 7,000-ton merchant ship was sunk in early April and at the end of the month, another was so badly damaged it was run aground.

Its anti-shipping work was dangerous; heavy flak fire often damaged, if not destroyed, the attacking aircraft and German fighters were easily a match for the obsolete Hampdens.

On 16 September it flew its last major operation with the Hampdens when a flight of four aircraft attacked a five-vessel convoy it sighted while patrolling along the Norwegian coast.

[20][21][22] On D-Day itself and immediately afterwards, the Anzac Strike Wing was tasked with seeking out and destroying E- and R-boats, which could threaten the vessels of the Allied invasion fleet.

The aircraft flew day and night, and when they reached the Norwegian coast, often had to fly deep into the fjords to seek out German shipping.

The high losses experienced by the Germans resulted in more shipping moving at night and sheltering in the fjords during the day.

489 Squadron's anti-shipping work along Norway's coast continued into 1945, and for the final months of the war it was led by Wing Commander D. Hammond.

Major sorties during the year included one on 9 February to Førde Fjord, in which a Narvik-class destroyer was attacked and damaged by 30 Beaufighters.