The Allied Expeditionary Air Force

Expeditionary warfare

Expeditionary warfare is used to describe the organization of a state's military to fight abroad, especially when deployed to fight away from its established bases at home or abroad. Expeditionary forces were in part the antecedent of the modern concept of Rapid Deployment Forces...

(AEAF) (also known as the Allied Armies’ Expeditionary Air Force, AAEAF) was a component of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force

Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force

Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force , was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was in command of SHAEF throughout its existence...

 (SHAEF) which controlled the tactical air power of the Allied forces during Operation Overlord

Operation Overlord

Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...

.

Its effectiveness was less than optimal on two counts. It did not function as the controlling headquarters for all Allied air forces, with the strategic forces of RAF Bomber Command

RAF Bomber Command

RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s stood at the peak of its postwar military power with the V bombers and a supplemental...

 and the US Eighth Air Force being retained by their national command authorities until pressure from U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

 resulted in them being placed directly under SHAEF instead of AEAF. Its commander was also not universally liked. Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory

Trafford Leigh-Mallory

Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory KCB, DSO & Bar was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. Leigh-Mallory served as a Royal Flying Corps pilot and squadron commander during World War I...

 was regarded by some as being too inept for his place in the high command.

It had two major components, the RAF Second Tactical Air Force

RAF Second Tactical Air Force

The former RAF Second Tactical Air Force was one of three tactical air forces within the Royal Air Force during and after the Second World War...

 and the USAAF Ninth Air Force

Ninth Air Force

The Ninth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina....

. Each supported their own nation's Army Group. It also had operational control of the Air Defence of Great Britain

Air Defence of Great Britain

The Air Defence of Great Britain was a RAF command comprising substantial Army and RAF elements responsible for the air defence of the British Isles...

, but with that organisation not being under the control of SHAEF.

AEAF was dissolved after Leigh Mallory was reassigned to command RAF forces in the far east, later being killed in an air crash.