TIMELINE

No 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps (known as 68 Australian Squadron, Royal Flying Corps until January 1918) formed in Egypt in September 1916. Squadron pilots were largely drawn from Australian Light Horse units, while many of the ground staff had served with the pioneer Australian squadron Half Flight. The squadron left for training in the United Kingdom soon after its formation and deployed to Baizieux, France in September 1917.

Equipped with DH 5 and, later, SE 5a aircraft, No 2 Squadron earned distinction flying in both ground-attack and aerial-combat operations on the Western Front. The squadron’s most successful period occurred from April 1918, when it moved to La Bellevue airfield. In June 1918 Major Roy Philiipps shot down four enemy aircraft, including two Fokker triplanes, in a single day. The squadron was disbanded in July 1922.

No 2 Squadron reformed at Laverton in Victoria on 1 May 1937 and was equipped with Hawker Demon aircraft. At the outbreak of the Second World War the squadron patrolled Australian waters using Avro Anson aircraft. Re-equipped with Lockheed Hudsons, it moved to Darwin in April 1941.

In December 1941 a squadron detachment was sent forward to Timor to cover Australian troops in the area. Enemy air raids and the rapid Japanese advance nevertheless forced the detachment back to Darwin in February 1942.
During 1942 and 1943 No 2 Squadron flew bombing, ground-attack, anti-shipping, and reconnaissance missions over the Japanese-occupied Netherlands East Indies. As a result of these operations the squadron was awarded the US Presidential Unit Citation in July 1943 for “outstanding performance of duty in action”. Having begun to train with Beaufort aircraft, in May 1944 the squadron converted to B 25 Mitchell bombers, which remained in service for the rest of the war. The squadron disbanded in May 1946

In September 1948 No 21 Squadron became No 2 (Bomber) Squadron. At this stage the squadron used Lincoln aircraft.

In 1958 the squadron, now equipped with Canberra bombers, deployed to Butterworch airbase in Malaya as part of the Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve.

In April 1967 No 2 Squadron deployed to South Vietnam. The squadron was based 260 kilometres north-east of Saigon at Phan Rang airbase with the American 35th Tactical Fighter Wing. In Vietnam, No 2 Squadron initially conducted high-altitude radar-controlled missions at night, before an outstandingly successful adoption of low-level daylight bombing.

Over a four-year period in Vietnam the squadron flew an average of eight missions every day. Despite firing nearly 12,000 combat missions, the squadron remarkably lost only two-aircraft in the conflict: one disappeared on a night-bombing mission; and the other was shot down by a surface-to-air missile near the demilitarised zone in March 1971.

The squadron returned to Australia from Vietnam in June 1971.
The squadron performed a flypast over Brisbane in June 1982, before disbanding in the following month.

No 2 Squadron reformed once again in January 2000. to operate Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft (AEW&C). The aircraft will begin entering service in 2009 and will operate from RAAF Base Williamtown near Newcastle. Six Boeing 737 NGs are currently being modified to accommodate sophisticated mission systems and radars that will increase Australia’s surveillance and air combat capability, provide air defence support for our naval fleet, assist in civil operations such as border protection and search and rescue. The Defence Material Organisation (DMO) took delivery of the first two aircraft from Boeing in November 2009.