Skip to content

Top Navigation

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Trip Inspiration
  • Plan Your Trip
  • World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises
  • Travel Tips
  • News
  • Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Travel + Leisure

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Explore

    Explore

    • World's Best

      The greatest islands, cities, hotels, cruise lines, airports, and more — as voted by you. Read More Next
    • The 50 Best Places to Travel in 2020

      Whether you're traveling solo or planning a family vacation, here are the 50 best places to visit in 2020. Read More Next
    • Let's Go Together Podcast

      Start listening to T+L's brand new podcast, Let's Go Together! Hosted by Kellee Edwards. Read More Next
  • Trip Inspiration

    Trip Inspiration

    • Trip Ideas
    • Weekend Getaways
    • Spring Travel
    • Summer Travel
    • Fall Travel
    • Winter Travel
    • Solo Travel
    • Romantic Getaways
    • Luxury Travel
    • Beach Vacations
    • Adventure Travel
    • Road Trips
    • Family Travel
    • National Parks
    • Holiday Travel
    • Travel Photography
    • Photo of the Day
    • Culture and Design
  • Plan Your Trip

    Plan Your Trip

    • Travel Guides
    • Flight Deals
    • Travel Deals
    • Ways to Save
    • Hotels + Resorts
    • Attractions
    • Amusement Parks
    • Disney Vacations
    • Festivals + Events
    • Airlines + Airports
    • Buses + Trains
    • Ground Transportation
  • World's Best

    World's Best

    • Top Hotels
    • Top Cities
    • Top Islands
    • Domestic Airlines
    • International Airlines
    • Tours
    • Safaris
    • All World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises

    Cruises

    • Find A Cruise
    • Caribbean Cruises
    • River Cruises
    • European Cruises
    • All-Inclusive Cruises
    • Family Cruises
    • Alaskan Cruises
    • Disney Cruises
    • See All Cruise Vacations
  • Travel Tips

    Travel Tips

    • Travel Trends
    • Packing Tips
    • Points + Miles
    • Budgeting + Currency
    • Customs + Immigration
    • Responsible Travel
    • Travel Etiquette
    • Travel Warnings
    • Weather
    • Mobile Apps
    • See All Travel Tips
  • News

    News

    • Wellness
    • Celebrity Travel
    • Animals
    • Jobs
    • Offbeat
    • See All News
  • Food + Drink

    Food + Drink

    • Restaurants
    • Wine
    • Beer
    • Cocktails + Spirits
    • Bars + Clubs
    • Celebrity Chefs
    • Cooking + Entertaining
    • Food Fairs + Festivals
    • World's Best Restaurants
    • See All Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories

    Travel Accessories

    • Travel Bags
    • Shoes
    • Travel Tech
    • Shopping
    • Style
    • Gift Guides
    • See All Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Culture + Design
  3. Meet the First Woman to Fly With a U.S. Combat Crew Over Enemy Soil

Meet the First Woman to Fly With a U.S. Combat Crew Over Enemy Soil

By Liz Ronk ,  Liz Ronk and Olivia B. Waxman / Time.com ,  Olivia B. Waxman / Time.com and Time.com
March 07, 2017
Skip gallery slides
Save Pin
Credit: Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
This story originally appeared on time.com.

Photographer Margaret Bourke-White — LIFE Magazine's first female staff photographer — helped women in her profession reach new heights when she became the first female photographer accredited to cover World War II combat zones. This 1943 self-portrait shows her decked out in a fleece flight suit in front of the Flying Fortress bomber from which she had photographed, from four miles in the air, an attack on Tunis, soaring above the cloud-banked Mediterranean coast to become "the first woman ever to fly with a U.S. combat crew over enemy soil," as the magazine declared in its Mar. 1, 1943, issue.

Fighter planes swooped in and attacked, and bombs downed 40 German planes in what was considered a "highly successful raid."

And this was no cushy gig: It was so cold that LIFE noted that she had to pinch her oxygen mask periodically to "dislodge chunks of frozen breath, which threatened to clog the feed line."

Her images, the magazine said, "are important, not only for their coverage of a well-executed local operation, but as a record of one typical chapter in the increasing Allied air offensive in Africa," at a time when that part of the Air Force had "experienced more continuous combat action than any other Army branch in Africa."

When the magazine asked if she ever got scared during the shoot, she said she felt quite the opposite: "The sound and movement were so rhythmic. It was like music—and so reassuring."

And this is why her colleagues nicknamed her “Maggie the Indestructible.”
Start Slideshow

1 of 6

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Margaret Bourke-White

Credit: Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Miss Bourke-White in regalia of air photographer.

1 of 6

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 6

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Flying Fortress

Credit: Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Flying Fortress is photographed by Margaret Bourke-White as it heads east along cloud-banked Mediterranean coast to bomb Axis airport near Tunis.

2 of 6

3 of 6

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Casino: Bomber Wing Headquarters

Credit: Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Planning the mission at Bomber Wing Headquarters, operations and intelligence officers carefully study maps of the proposed target, El Auina airfield near Tunis. The gaming table on which the charts are spread belonged to occupants of pre-war days.

3 of 6

Advertisement

4 of 6

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

"Little Bill" B-17 Bomber Crew

Credit: Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Ball turret gunner Sgt. James M. Abbott, holding onto one of the 50-cal. waist machine guns as he takes off his warm high altitude clothing upon return from a successful bombing mission.

4 of 6

5 of 6

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Bombing Raid

Credit: Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

B17 bomber crew sharing bombing raid details of target in Tunis in North Africa with intelligence officers, during WWII.

5 of 6

6 of 6

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Bomber Wing HQ in North Africa

Credit: Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

12th Air Force Commanding officers standing at blackboard as they brief pilots, crews & maintenance ground crews at Bomber Wing HQ in an old Dutch palace, an hour before their B-17 Flying Fortress bombers head for their targets in Tunisia.

See the rest of the photos.

6 of 6

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Liz Ronk ,  Liz Ronk and Olivia B. Waxman / Time.com ,  Olivia B. Waxman / Time.com and Time.com

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 6 Margaret Bourke-White
2 of 6 Flying Fortress
3 of 6 Casino: Bomber Wing Headquarters
4 of 6 "Little Bill" B-17 Bomber Crew
5 of 6 Bombing Raid
6 of 6 Bomber Wing HQ in North Africa

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Sitemap
  • Travel Guide Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletters
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
Travel + Leisure is part of the Travel + Leisure Group. Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. Travel + Leisure is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation Travel + Leisure Group All Rights Reserved, registered in the United States and other countries. Travel + Leisure may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.travelandleisure.com

View image

Meet the First Woman to Fly With a U.S. Combat Crew Over Enemy Soil
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.