No 42 (Torpedo Bomber) Sqn

In June 1942, No 42 (Torpedo Bomber) Sqn prepared to move to the Far East. The ground element departing on 8 June 1942 aboard the MV Stirling Castle.

When they arrived in Yalahanka things looked very different. The aircrew flew out via the Mediterranean and had to hand over their aircraft to No. 39 Squadron. They themselves undertook operations with No. 47 Squadron.

When the air and ground elements gathered together in February 1943, it was to the news that the squadron was to be re-equipped with the Bisley.

After the squadron had converted to the Bisley it moved to Rajyeswarpur. Here they conducted bombing sorties against Japanese positions. In May 1943 the squadron moved again to Kumbhirgram, where they not only had to fight the enemy, they also had to combat the weather, poor conditions in camp and sickness.

Thankfully the squadron returned to Yalahanka in October 1943 in order to re-equip once again, this time with the Hurricane. This involved a great deal of change, for the squadron, there being no requirement for observers or air gunners.

In December 1943 the squadron began operating from Palel as a ground-attack squadron over Burma. The squadron's first sortie with their Hurricanes was against Eponnzeik Bridge. From this moment on the squadron only paused for bad weather.

Even Christmas Day saw the squadron carrying out sorties against troop concentrations. Despite this the Officers and SNCOs found time to serve the traditional airmen's dinner. At this time the Japanese were still a force to be reckoned with and were in fact preparing for an offensive.

This coincided with a move to Kangla and would see the squadron having to defend their airfield from 'Jitter patrols'. LAC Beverage would unfortunately be killed in one such attack. The ground fighting at this time was desperate and not even bad weather was allowed to stop operations in support of the Army.

So decisive was the squadron's contribution to stopping the Japanese offensive that 17 Division presented the squadron with a captured Japanese sword on 26 June 1944.

For the next year the squadron would continue to conduct operations against Japanese troop concentrations, bridges and strongholds in support of the Army. They also dropped supplies to Z Force who were operating deep inside the Japanese lines.

On 24 June 1945 the squadron was shocked to be informed that it would be disbanded. Despite desperate appeals by the squadron this occurred on 30 June 1945.

Remarkably, the squadron was reborn on 1 July 1945 when No. 146 Squadron was renumbered. Now equipped with the Republic Thunderbolt the squadron would continue its fight against the Japanese until the war's end before disbanding again on 30 December 1945.