with Mosquitos in April 1945, continuing operations against Japanese forces until the end of the war. After the war it moved to Java to operate against Indonesian nationalist forces but it was disbanded at Butterworth on 21 March 1946. 1946–1967 Transport On 1 September 1946 the squadron was re-formed at RAF Qastina in Palestine when 644 Squadron was renumbered. It was now a transport squadron using converted four-engined Handley Page Halifax bombers. It soon returned to the United Kingdom where it flew the Halifax from RAF Fairford in the Army support role. The Squadron moved to RAF Dishforth in September 1948, where it became the first RAF Squadron to receive the Handley Page Hastings four-engined transport. The conversion process was rushed as the aircraft were needed to support the Berlin Airlift, with the Squadron moving to Schleswigland, near Kiel in West Germany on 1 November 1948. The aircraft was mainly used to carry coal, carrying out 3,000 trips to Berlin and carrying 22,000 tons of supplies. When the blockade ended the Squadron returned to the United Kingdom, moving to RAF Topcliffe on 22 August 1949, operating in support of airborne forces, moving to RAF Abingdon in May 1953. In May 1956 the squadron became the first to re-equip with the Blackburn Beverley heavy-lift transport, the large aircraft were used on Transport Command trooping and freight routes. The squadron also supported operations in Cyprus, Kuwait and East Africa and carried out mercy flights related to floods, droughts and natural disasters. The Beverley was withdrawn and the squadron disbanded on 31 October 1967. 1968–Present Hercules The squadron was re-formed at RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, on 25 February 1968 to operate the Lockheed Hercules, moving to Lyneham in September 1971. During the Falklands War, the squadron airlifted supplies to Ascension Island and, later, air dropped men and supplies to ships of the British task force in the South Atlantic. To make the trip from Ascension to the Falklands, several Hercules were given additional fuel tanks and fitted with refuelling probes. 47 Squadron also prepared to fly elements of the Special Air Service to Argentina for the aborted Operation Mikado. The squadron was subsequently heavily involved in Operation Telic in Iraq in the 2000s and then in Operation Ellamy in Libya in 2011. The squadron moved to RAF Brize Norton in 2011. In August 2017 a Hercules C4 (C-130J-30), serial number ZH873 operated by the