--- title: American Bombers and Their Crews in World War II England description: In the 1940s, LIFE's Margaret Bourke-White spent time with the United States' "Mighty 8th" Bomber Command in England. canonical: https://time.com/3879262/american-bombers-and-crews-in-wwii-england-photos/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-06T02:04:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:45.999Z og:title: American Bombers and Their Crews in World War II England og:description: In the 1940s, LIFE's Margaret Bourke-White spent time with the United States' "Mighty 8th" Bomber Command in England. og:url: https://time.com/3879262/american-bombers-and-crews-in-wwii-england-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec30b35e65604502/69884b6f3c16390df1457618/140226-margaret-bourke-white-bombers-12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: American Bombers, England, 1942 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: American Bombers and Their Crews in World War II England twitter:description: In the 1940s, LIFE's Margaret Bourke-White spent time with the United States' "Mighty 8th" Bomber Command in England. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec30b35e65604502/69884b6f3c16390df1457618/140226-margaret-bourke-white-bombers-12.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Air America: U.S. Bombers and Their Crews in World War II England > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Mar 6, 2014 2:04 AM UTC  Not published in LIFE. Two fliers of the VIII Bomber Command clad in high-altitude flying gear including sheepskin flight jackets, helmets, oxygen masks and goggles, 1942. Not published in LIFE. Two fliers of the VIII Bomber Command clad in high-altitude flying gear including sheepskin flight jackets, helmets, oxygen masks and goggles, 1942. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Mar 6, 2014 2:04 AM UTC During World War II, the now-legendary [VIII Bomber Command](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIII%5FBomber%5FCommand) (often referred to as the Eighth Air Force) served as the principal American force assembled to attack Germany from the air. For several critical years in the early and mid-1940s, B-24 and B-17 bombers—the Flying Fortresses—from the “The Mighty 8th,” often in tandem with Royal Air Force fighters, crossed the Channel and hit strategic towns and cities in Nazi-held Europe. In the 1940s, LIFE’s Margaret Bourke-White visited and photographed the Bomber Command in southern England more than once. The bulk of the photos in this gallery were made in 1942—before the tide of war in Europe had begun to turn in the Allies’ favor. Bourke-White, one of LIFE magazine’s original four staff photographers, was America’s first accredited woman photographer during WWII, and the first authorized to fly on a combat mission. For decades she covered conflicts, civil wars, humanitarian crises and natural disasters. She documented segregation in the American South, was the last person to interview Gandhi before he was assassinated, was one of the first photographers to document the liberation of Nazi death camps and survived a torpedo attack while traveling by ship to North Africa in 1943\. She was briefly married to the American writer Erskine Caldwell (_God’s Little Acre_, _Tobacco Road_). One of the greatest photojournalists of the 20th century, she died in 1971\. She was 67 years old. ---  Not published in LIFE. Jubilant B-17 crew members pose next to their plane upon returning to England unscathed after a bombing run, 1942. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  American bombers in England, 1942. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. American bomber crew in England, 1942. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. American bomber crew in England, 1942. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Portrait of an American bomber crew member, England, World War II. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Portrait of an American bomber crew member, England, World War II. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Portrait of an American bomber crew member, England, World War II. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Inside a B-17 Flying Fortress, September, 1942. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  'Bottoms Up,' American bomber, England, 1942. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  'Superman,' American bomber, England, 1942. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  American bomber, England, 1942. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Two fliers of the VIII Bomber Command clad in high-altitude flying gear including sheepskin flight jackets, helmets, oxygen masks and goggles, 1942. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. A B-17 Flying Fortress' ground crew bids goodbye to Fortress gunners before bomber takes off on a raid in Europe, 1942. 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