What was an ATF in 8th Air Force in 1944?

[Ivo de Jong]

ATF was indeed Air Task Force. It was a tactical designation and not an 'organisation' in itself and thus had no own staff capacity etc.
On combat missions an ATF was composed of one or more Combat Wings, which were assigned the same target. You would see the entire bomber stream heading east, and then 'fanning out' to various targets. Each target (or two targets close to each other) had an ATF attacking it. I have researched the mission of May 28, 1944 in depth and ATF's ranged from one Combat Wing (to Cologne) to four Combat Wings (to Dessau and Ruhland). Fighter escort was assigned to the various ATF's, depending on their size and target.
HTH,
Ivo de Jong