operations over the North-West Frontier, supporting operations by a mobile column of the Indian Army against followers of Mitza Ali Khan, who had cut the road between Miramshah and Datta Khel. Following the successful relief of Datta Khel and the dispersal of the rebels, the squadron returned to Ranchi in August. In December 1942 it was re-equipped with Hawker Hurricane IIb aircraft in the fighter-reconnaissance role. By January 1943 the squadron was operating over Burma, with detachments at Maungdaw and Imphal. The Maungdaw-based detachment moved to Ramu, Cox's Bazar in April and to Cox's Bazar in May 1943. Operations included both tactical reconnaissance and high-level photo reconnaissance, together with offensive patrols against Japanese river traffic. The squadron flew at least 100 operational sorties per month throughout 1943, including during the Monsoon season. In March 1944, the squadron began to replace its machine-gun armed Hurricane IIbs with cannon-armed Hurricane IIcs, while the squadron's operational tempo picked up in the early part of the year, reaching 12 sorties per day in March, while in April it supplemented its normal duties with carrying mail between Dimapur and besieged Imphal during the Battles of Imphal and Kohima. The squadron was pulled out of the front line in July 1944, returning to operations over Burma in December that year. In May 1945, it started to receive Hurricane IVs to supplement its IIcs. On 1 August 1945, the squadron received three Supermarine Spitfire PR.XIs, flying a few sorties with them before the end of the war. Post War After the end of the Second World War the squadron continued as a fighter-reconnaissance unit as part of the Far East Air Force. In October 1945, the squadron replaced its Hurricanes with more Spitfires, (Mk VIIIs and Mk XIVEs), concentrating on the Spitfire XIVE by the end of the year. It moved to Penang, Malaya in November 1945 and to RAF Kuala Lumpur in April 1946, and then to RAF Tengah, Singapore in February 1947. The squadron received Spitfire FR.18s in 1947. It moved to RAF Sembawang, also in Singapore in February 1949. It moved to RAF Kai Tak, Hong Kong in 1949 still with Spitfires, in order to strengthen Hong Kong's defences as a result of the ongoing Chinese Civil War, with the squadron's role changing from fighter-reconnaissance to pure fighter. From then on the squadron was regularly moved between Kai Tak and Sek Kong. In February