Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - A matsayin wani ɓangare na sake fasalin RAAF bayan barkewar Yaƙin Duniya na II a watan Satumbar 1939, an kafa Rukunin No. 2 a Sydney a ranar 20 ga Nuwamba, tare da Cole a cikin umurnin. Kungiyar ta mallaki rukunin Sojojin Sama a New South Wales. An tayar da Cole zuwa commodore na wucin gadi a watan Disamba, kuma ya dauki nauyin kwamandan yankin na tsakiya, wanda ya maye gurbin No. 2 Group, lokacin da aka kafa shi a sabuwar shekara. A watan Satumbar 1941, an tura shi zuwa Arewacin Afirka a matsayin Kwamandan Kwamandan No. 235 na RAF na Desert Air Force, inda ya taimaka wajen kafa sabon rukunin yaki da jirgin ruwa, No. 459 Squadron RAAF. An tura shi zuwa Ingila tare da Babban Ofishin No. 11 Group a watan Mayu 1942, ya yi aiki a matsayin Mai Kula da Jirgin Sama na Dieppe Raid
a ranar 19 ga watan Agusta, wanda ke da alhakin daidaitawa da haɗin gwiwar haɗin gwiwar a kan iyakar Faransa a kan jirgin HMS "Calpe". A yin haka, ya ji rauni sosai a cikin muƙamuƙi da saman jikinsa lokacin da mayaƙan Jamus suka harbe jirgin; ya buƙaci tiyata na filastik kuma ya kwashe makonni da yawa yana murmurewa. Jaruntakarsa a yayin aikin ta sa ya sami lambar yabo ta musamman, an buga sanarwar a cikin ƙarin "London Gazette" a ranar 2 ga Oktoba, 1942. A wannan watan, an sanya shi Kwamandan Jami'in Jirgin Sama (AOC) RAF Arewacin Ireland, tare da mukamin mukaddashin mataimakin marshal na iska, kodayake an bayyana umarnin a cikin tarihin hukuma na Ostiraliya a cikin yaƙin a matsayin "backwater".