No. 34 Squadron was re-formed on 3 January 1943 at Parafield Airport, South Australia, from elements of No. 36 Squadron formerly based at Essendon, Victoria. Initially comprising ninety-six personnel and eight aircraft, by the end of the month the squadron's strength had been reduced to seventy personnel and three Dragons operating in South Australia and the Northern Territory. On 11 March one of the Dragons was destroyed on takeoff at Parafield, causing two deaths—No. 34 Squadron's first fatalities. Another Dragon was lost in a fire after it crashlanded near Tennant Creek in April. Beginning in May 1943, the Dragons were augmented by Douglas C-47 Dakotas, giving the squadron a total strength of three Dakotas and two Dragons by the following month. By July, No. 34 Squadron was operating five Dakotas, which had fully replaced the Dragons, and in August its strength stood at seven Dakotas and 153 personnel, including forty-seven officers. It subsequently received an Airspeed Oxford and a Douglas DC-2, and began making supply drops and medical evacuations as far north as Port Moresby, New Guinea. The squadron had its busiest month in May 1944, transporting almost 1,900 passengers and over of cargo. On 1 June it became the first operational RAAF squadron to have personnel of the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) in its ranks, a contingent made up of an officer and twenty airwomen. The WAAAF had been formed in 1941 and eventually made up thirty-one per cent of RAAF ground staff; its members were primarily employed in technical trades and were not permitted to serve in combat theatres.