84 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was formed on 16 February 1917 at East Boldre (Beaulieu)[4] under the command of Major Hazelton Nicholl.

[8] Initial operations were patrols and escort duties over Flanders,[9] and when the Battle of Cambrai took place in November–December that year, the squadron flew top cover for aircraft carrying out ground attack and artillery spotting duties, while countering German attempts to attack British troops.

[9][10] From December 1917, the squadron joined the 5th Brigade of the Royal Flying Corps, operating in support of the British Fifth Army.

[12] In total the squadron had claimed 129 German aeroplanes and 50 balloons destroyed by the end of the war on 11 November 1918.

[13] The squadron's aces during the First World War included Andrew Beauchamp-Proctor, Hugh Saunders and Walter A.

[14] The squadron was reformed on 13 August 1920 at Baghdad in Iraq, moving to RAF Shaibah in September, where it remained for the next 20 years.

[15] Its initial equipment was DH.9As (until January 1929) and these were replaced by Wapitis (beginning July 1928),[15] Vincents (December 1935)[16] and Blenheims Mk.Is (February 1939).

[4] This story may more accurately relate to the location and rescue by Vickers Vincent aircraft of 84 Squadron of Imperial Airways Handley Page H.P.

42E G-AAUC Horsa which forced landed on 29 August 1936, in the Arabian Desert south of Salwa Wells in Qatar, having overflown Bahrain airport.

Miss Jane Wallace Smith, an American novelist is named as the presenter of the undergarments to the squadron.

[24] When hostilities broke out on 2 May, with Iraqi forces threatening the RAF base at Habbaniya, west of Baghdad, 84 Squadron supported the forces sent to relieve Habbaniya,[25] and when Germany and Italy sent air reinforcements to Iraq via airfields in Vichy-French Syria, carried out attacks on these airfields.

[36][37] In March 1942, eleven members of 84 Squadron commandeered a lifeboat and sailed away from Java to escape the advancing Japanese forces.

In December 1942, the squadron, now based at Vizagapatam on the East coast of India (now known as Visakhapatnam), received its planned operational equipment, the Vultee Vengeance dive bomber.

[54] The squadron took part in Operation Musketeer, the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt during the Suez Crisis, in November 1956, its Valettas carrying out paratroop drops.

[53][54] In late 1967, the Beverley was replaced by the Hawker Siddeley Andover, and when UK forces left Aden the squadron moved to RAF Sharjah, then in the Trucial States (now the United Arab Emirates).

[54] The responsibility for civil search and rescue duties was eventually transferred to the Cyprus Police Aviation Unit.

[57] In January 2003 the squadron discarded its Wessexes, replacing them with four contractor owned but military flown Bell Griffin HAR.2 helicopters, with the main duties being search and rescue in support of British forces on Cyprus, also carrying out transport operations for British army units based on the island.