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Hancock finally gained a combat command in January 1945, when he took charge of No. 100 Squadron, flying Bristol Beaufort light bombers during the Aitape-Wewak campaign in New Guinea. That month, the unit attacked Japanese positions at Maprik, below the Prince Alexander Ranges, and Cape Moem, near Wewak. On 1 April, Hancock took over No. 71 Wing, which came under overall control of RAAF Northern Command and nominally comprised Nos. 7, 8 and 100 Beaufort Squadrons, as well as a flight of CAC Boomerang fighter-bombers from No. 4 (Army Cooperation) Squadron. It was soon augmented by two more Beaufort units, Nos. 6 and 15 Squadrons. Providing close air support to Australian ground troops in the lead-up to the final assault on Wewak, the wing flew over 1,400 sorties and dropped more than 1,200 tons of bombs in May alone. By mid-year, Hancock's forces were acutely short of fuel and ordnance, to the extent that his squadrons took to arming their Beauforts with captured Japanese bombs. In July, enough supplies arrived to enable the wing to continue operating at normal strength. No. 71 Wing was active to the last day of the Pacific War, flying its final combat mission involving thirty Beauforts only hours before news of victory arrived on 15 August 1945. Hancock's "distinguished flying on operations in Northern Command" earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross; the award was published in the London Gazette on 22 February 1946.