About This Unit
25 Squadron was first formed as 23 Squadron at Laverton in Victoria on 3 May 1937. It moved to Pearce in Western Australia on 1 January 1939 and was subsequently renamed. The outbreak of the Second World War involved the unit in convoy protection and anti-submarine patrols around Fremantle and Rottnest Island.
When Japan entered the war, the unit rearmed with Vultee Vengeance dive-bombers and Brewster Buffalo fighters, in anticipation of a Japanese invasion of the mainland. 25 Squadron converted to Liberator heavy bombers towards the end of 1944 and in March 1945 bombed Japanese barges on Sumbawa Island in the Netherlands East Indies. The unit conducted a successful search for a torpedoed merchant ship and continued to attack enemy barges and airstrips across Java. In June the squadron moved to Tarakan for the remainder of the war.
After the end of the war, 25 Squadron moved to Cunderdin in Western Australia and began transporting Australian ex-prisoners of war and internees from Borneo and Morotai. The unit was disbanded on 9 July 1946