On 2 May 1945, the squadron escorted the aircraft that returned Queen Wilhelmina to The Netherlands after three years in exile. This was No. 453 Squadron's last mission of the war; it moved between several bases in Britain in the months immediately following the end of hostilities before deploying to Germany in September. After the war it was planned that the squadron would form a long-term Australian presence among the occupation forces but sufficient volunteers could not be found to make this a viable proposition. Thus, on 21 January 1946 the squadron disbanded. During the war the squadron suffered 29 fatalities, all but one of them Australian.