11 Squadron served in two periods during World War II, in East Africa and again later in Egypt and Italy. It was formed on 11 December 1939 at Waterkloof Flying Station equipped with 24 Hawker Hartbees in an army co-operation role, moving to Kenya in May 1940.The squadron flew from Waterkloof on 19 May to Pietersburg and then Bulawayo, 20 May Bulawayo – Salisbury – Broken Hill; 21 May Broken Hill – Mpika; 22 May Mpika – Mbeya – Dodoma – Moshi and on 23 May Moshi – Nairobi. The squadron received its first Fairey Battle in June 1940 and by 19 August all of the Hartbees aircraft had been replaced by Fairey Battles deployed from Archers Post in Kenya.The Hawker Hartbees were passed on to 40 Sqn SAAF. It served in a reconnaissance and army cooperation role in Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia until June 1941 when its aircraft were transferred to 15 Squadron and 11 Squadron was disbanded.
