The squadron was formed in 1942 and saw extensive action in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, operating P-40 Kittyhawks.

The squadron was based at Malta from 1952 to 1954, flying de Havilland Vampires, and Malaysia from 1968 to 1983, with Dassault Mirage IIIs, before returning to Australia.

It was placed on alert to support the Australian-led INTERFET peacekeeping deployment to East Timor in 1999, and saw combat in 2003 as part of the Australian contribution to the invasion of Iraq and in 2015 during the military intervention against ISIL.

In February and March 1942 the Allied position in New Guinea was under pressure and Japanese aircraft had been sighted over the Torres Strait Islands and Cape York in northern Australia.

The RAAF received an allocation of 25 P-40 Kittyhawk fighters in late February that were flown to Townsville, Queensland, and used to form No.

The need to reinforce Port Moresby's defences was so pressing that the squadron was allowed only nine days to train with the aircraft before it deployed.

The squadron scored its first "kill" on the afternoon of 21 March when two Kittyhawks shot down a Japanese bomber which was conducting a reconnaissance of the town.

75 Squadron was in action over Port Moresby or Lae almost every day during late March and April, and was generally outnumbered by Japanese aircraft.

[4] As well as mounting their own attacks on Japanese positions, the Kittyhawks also frequently escorted a squadron of United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) A-24 Banshee dive bombers, which were stationed at Port Moresby.

At the time an Allied base was being developed at Milne Bay to both protect Port Moresby and mount attacks against Japanese positions in New Guinea and nearby islands.

On 28 August the Kittyhawks were withdrawn to Port Moresby when the Japanese troops came close to their airstrips, but they returned to Milne Bay the next day.

76 Squadrons later supported the Allied counter-offensive at Milne Bay which ended with the remaining Japanese troops being evacuated in early September.

[11][12] Following the battle Lieutenant General Sydney Rowell, the commander of New Guinea Force, stated that the attacks made by the two squadrons on the day of the Japanese landing were "the decisive factor" in the Allied victory.

[15] It subsequently moved again to Cairns for a period of rest before returning to Milne Bay in February 1943,[16] under the command of Squadron Leader Wilfred Arthur.

75 Squadron moved to Goodenough Island in October 1943 to support the Allied offensive in the Louisiade Archipelago and New Britain.

75 Squadron was stationed at Noemfoor from July to November 1944 where it conducted long-range attacks on Japanese airstrips and shipping in the eastern islands of the Netherlands East Indies.

[27] The squadron was ordered back to Biak by 1TAF on 2 November to provide air defence for the island, to the displeasure of the pilots who considered that they were "being taken out of the war".

[29] The squadron arrived at Morotai on 21 December and flew 147 operational sorties that month during attacks on Japanese positions in the nearby Halmahera islands.

While the squadron's ground crew landed on Tarakan with the invasion force in early May 1945, delays with repairing the island's airfield meant that its aircraft could not be deployed there until mid-July rather than 3 May as had been originally planned.

[32] Once established at Tarakan the Kittyhawks attacked targets near Sandakan and supported Australian forces during the Battle of Balikpapan in the war's last weeks.

The Kittyhawks were later flown to Oakey, Queensland and the ground crew returned to Australia in December 1945 on board the British aircraft carrier HMS Glory.

[36] During this period a key role for the squadron was training pilots for combat in the Korean War with the Gloster Meteor-equipped No.

78 Wing and deploy it to Malta where it would form part of a British force which sought to counter the Soviet Union's influence in the Middle East.

78 Wing moved to the RAF station at Ta' Qali in June 1953 where it remained until it returned to Australia in late December 1954.

It was initially equipped with Vampires and Gloster Meteor fighters, but these were replaced with CAC Sabre aircraft in early 1957.

[24][39] While operating Sabres the squadron made a number of deployments to Darwin for air defence exercises which often involved RAF units.

[46] Tindal was close to the RAAF's newly developed Delamere Air Weapons Range and the squadron was assigned two GAF Nomad light transport aircraft between January 1989 and 1993 to fly supplies to the facilities there.

75 Squadron Hornets flew from Tindal to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar via Diego Garcia between 13 and 16 February.

The squadron regularly exercised with units from the RMAF, RNZAF, RSAF and US Military and conducted training using the facilities of the Delamere Air Weapons Range.

75 Squadron deployed to the Middle East during Operation Okra as part of the military intervention against ISIL.