He was promoted to temporary group captain on 27 March 1942. In April 1943 Atcherley became Air Officer Commanding of No. 211 Group at Tripoli in Libya. At the time of the invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) on 10 July 1943, No. 211 Group was the primary fighter force of Air Vice Marshal Harry Broadhurst's Desert Air Force, a sub-command of Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham's Northwest African Tactical Air Force. Later that year he transferred to Headquarters RAF Fighter Command and in 1944 he moved to Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Air Force in preparation for Operation Overlord. He spent the closing stages of the War as Commandant of the Fighter Leaders' School and then as Commandant of the Central Fighter Establishment.