Second Tactical Air Force
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The Second Tactical Air Force was one of three tactical air forces within the Royal Air Force during and after the Second World War. It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the RAF, other Briti
Badge of the Second Tactical Air Force
Geoffrey Page, commander of 125 Wing of the Second TAF, about to take off on a sortie from Longues-sur-Mer, Normandy, in a Spitfire IX, (June 1944).
Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham,, nicknamed "Mary", was an Australian-born senior officer in the Royal Air Force. During the First World War, he was at Gallipoli with the New Zealand Expeditionary Fo
Second Tactical Air Force
…first commander was Air Marshal Sir John d'Albiac, who, on 21 January 1944, was succeeded by the man most associated with Second TAF, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham. 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…
Coningham in 1944
Coningham (centre) with Montgomery (left) and Dempsey (right) prior to the British crossing of the Rhine
In a ceremony at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, President Harry S. Truman (third from left) presents the Army Distinguished Service Medal to (opposite the President, L to R:) General H. D. G. Crerar, Canadian Army, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham, Air Marshal Sir James Robb, and Major General Sir F. W. Guingand. President Truman is in Frankfort to inspect U. S. troops during a break in the Potsdam Conference.