February 1943, when it discarded its Blenheims to become a solely Baltimore equipped squadron. 24 Squadron moved to Tunisia in June 1943, where it became operational, flying maritime reconnaissance and Air-Sea-Rescue searches. The squadron moved to Italy in November that year, with detachments at Malta, and then moved again to Gibraltar in February 1944, disbanding on 31 March 1944. Transport squadron On 1 July 1944, 353 Squadron, a transport squadron equipped with a mix of Lockheed Hudsons and Douglas Dakotas based at Dum Dum near Calcutta, India, was split into two, with the Dakota equipped 'C' and 'D' Flights becoming 52 Squadron. A major role of the new squadron was flying air mail over the Himalaya Mountains to China, the so-called "Hump route". It was also used to operate a mail and general transport service throughout India and Ceylon. The Squadron received a number of Liberators in December 1944 for Hump operations, with a few Beechcraft Expeditor light transports and de Havilland Tiger Moths modified as air ambulances in 1945. It continued its transport routes to China and throughout India following the end of the War, extending them to Malaya. By the time flights over the Hump route to China finished in December 1945, the Squadron had flown 830 crossings of the Himalayas, carrying 3,277 passengers, 1,916,443 lb (871,100 kg) of cargo and 454,834 lb (20,380 kg) of mail for the loss of one aircraft. The squadron moved to Mingladon in Burma in October 1946, but transferred to Singapore in July 1947 following a coup. From here it was soon involved in 'Operation Firedog'. Dakotas were replaced by Valettas in 1951 and based at RAAF Butterworth these continued to be used on a regular passenger run between Singapore and Butterworth until unreliability forced cessation of passenger carrying. The squadron continued to operate, notably from Kuching dropping supplies to the jungle troops, mainly Gurkhas, fighting the Indonesian troops in the confrontation war until disbanded on 25 April 1966. The squadron reformed, for the final time so far, on 1 December 1966 at Seletar. It was still employed on general transport duties but was now equipped with Andover aircraft, which it used until disbanding on 31 December 1969. Tasks were found for the squadron with regular flights to RAAF Butterworth, a twice weekly flight to RAF Kuching, Seria (Anduki) and RAF Labuan, with the aircraft returning after a night stop. The latter