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No.202 Squadron was a flying boat squadron that served in the Mediterranean from 1929 until September 1944 when it moved to Northern Ireland to fly coastal patrols.

The squadron was based in Malta from 1929 and operated seaplanes from then until 1935, when it was equipped with the Supermarine Scapa flying boat (a version of the Supermarine Southampton but with Rolls Royce Kestrel engines instead of the Napier Lions used on the Southampton). The Scapas were used operationally from September 1937 when the squadron formed part of the international force that attempted to protect neutral shipping against Italian submarines during the Spanish Civil War. They were replaced by the Saro London at the end of 1937, and it was these aircraft that moved to Alexandria during the Munich crisis.

The squadron relocated to Gibraltar when WW2 broke out, in order to patrol the approaches to the Mediterranean and also to 'keep an eye' on German shipping stranded in southern Spain and Spanish Morocco at the outbreak of hostilities.

In September 1940 the squadron took over the Swordfish seaplanes No. 3 Conversion unit and used them for local patrols over the entrance to the Mediterranean. The Short Londons were finally replaced by more modern aircraft from April 1941 when the squadron began to receive the legendary US Consolidated PBY Catalinas. No. 202 Squadron also operated a number of Short Sunderland four engined flying boats from December 1941 until September 1942.

The squadron took part in the sinking of one U-boat during 1942, helping the Royal Navy sink U-74 in the Western Mediterranean on 2 May. The squadron's second and final U-boat sinking came on 13 February 1943 when U-620 was sunk to the north west of Lisbon by an aircraft providing a convoy escort. 

No. 202 Squadron was heavily involved in Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942. After a long period of operating almost alone it was incorporated in a strong force based at Gibraltar. It also played a part in covert operations before the invasion, picking up General Mark Clark on 24 October on his way back from a secret visit to North Africa. 

In September 1944 the squadron moved to Northern Ireland, where it remained for the rest of the war. Its new duty was to fly coastal patrols in an attempt to catch U-boats operating close to the west coast in the last few months of the war. The squadron was disbanded on 12 June 1945.