On 11 May 1940, Group Captain G. M. Bryer assumed command, followed by Air Vice Marshal Leonard Slatter in July 1941.

Western Desert under Air Vice Marshal Arthur Coningham, provided the practical model upon which British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and their staffs reorganized the Allied air forces in the North African and Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) at the Casablanca Conference in January 1943.

The air interdiction model consisting of coastal, strategic, and tactical air forces was presented to the Casablanca planners by Tedder who along with primarily Lloyd, Ritchie, and especially Coningham, implemented and developed the model during the successful campaigns in Egypt and Libya.

201 Group was not part of the Northwest African Coastal Air Force (NACAF), but remained in RAF Middle East Command under its new commander, Air Chief Marshal Sir Sholto Douglas.

Appropriately, 201 group's previous commander during the campaigns in Egypt and Libya, Hugh Lloyd, took command of the coastal component (NACAF), which along with the Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) and the Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF), formed the complete tri-force of NAAF.