It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the RAF, other British Commonwealth air forces, and exiles from German-occupied Europe.

2TAF was formed on 1 June 1943 as HQ Tactical Air Force from Army Co-operation Command, in connection with preparations then in train to invade Europe a year later.

140 Squadron, providing strategic photo-reconnaissance, were also part of the tactical air force at its inception.

Coningham had great experience of the type of operations required for supporting fast moving ground warfare due to his command of the Desert Air Force in North Africa and Italy.

He honed Second TAF into a command up to the challenges presented to it, and incorporated many of the lessons from Italy, including the use of the "cab rank" system for aircraft for close air support, into the doctrine of Second TAF.

Thornton, served as the air spotting pool for naval gunfire support throughout Operation Overlord.

One notable exception was the last great attack of the Luftwaffe, Operation Bodenplatte, mounted on New Year's Day 1945, when the Second TAF suffered serious losses on the ground.

On 20 January 1945, four Gloster Meteors jets from 616 Squadron were moved to Melsbroek in Belgium and attached to the Second Tactical Air Force.

By the end of 1947, the forces had shrunk to ten squadrons at three airfields, all directly under control of the Air Headquarters at Bad Eilsen.

2 Group was transferred again to Second Tactical Air Force on 1 September 1951, but was disbanded on 15 November 1958.