--- title: Women's History Month 2017: Margaret Bourke-White at War description: Learn the story behind this portrait of Margaret Bourke White, the first female photographer accredited to cover World War II combat zones canonical: https://time.com/4669481/margaret-bourke-white-flying-fortress/ author: Liz Ronk article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-01T14:00:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:50:22.908Z og:title: Women's History Month 2017: Margaret Bourke-White at War og:description: She was called "Maggie the Indestructible" og:url: https://time.com/4669481/margaret-bourke-white-flying-fortress/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt955a2d2b34219b9b/6988ba23bc6cfc7f063e026d/170213-mbw-tunis-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2012 og:image:height: 1132 og:image:alt: Margaret Bourke-White Bombing 1943 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Women's History Month 2017: Margaret Bourke-White at War twitter:description: She was called "Maggie the Indestructible" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt955a2d2b34219b9b/6988ba23bc6cfc7f063e026d/170213-mbw-tunis-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Behind the Picture: The First Woman to Fly with a U.S. Combat Crew Over Enemy Soil > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) and [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/) Mar 1, 2017 2:00 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. Miss Bourke-White in regalia of air photographer. Caption from LIFE. Miss Bourke-White in regalia of air photographer. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) and [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/) Mar 1, 2017 2:00 PM UTC Photographer [Margaret Bourke-White](http://time.com/4355162/margaret-bourke-white-cameras/?iid=sr-link1) — 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](https://books.google.com/books?id=WlEEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA17#v=twopage&q&f=false) 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.”  Photographer Margaret Bourke-White on assignment in North Africa, 1943. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 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.”](http://time.com/3735284/great-lady-with-a-camera-margaret-bourke-white-american-original/)  Caption from LIFE. Miss Bourke-White in regalia of air photographer. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Flying Fortress is photographed by Margaret Bourke-White as it heads east along cloud-banked Mediterranean coast to bomb Axis airport near Tunis. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. 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 occupents of pre-war days. Favorite gag of American combat crews based here is to suggest using dice to shoot for the target. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Combat crew are briefed in the patio of an old desert palace now used by U.S. Air Force as an operations building. Scarcely an hour after the briefing, pilots and crews were in the air, Tunis-bound. 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. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Little Bill" lead plane of lead element, prepares to take off. Bombs painted on nose denote a mission in which it participated; swastikas, number of German planes shot down. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Outtake from Margaret Bourke-White photo set of the Tunis bombing, 1943. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Ground crew, "bombs up' a Fortress. In this raid mostly fragmentation bombs were used in order to spray the planes to best advantage. Here amorers are placing bombs in a sling to hoist on racks. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Contact sheet from Margaret Bourke-White photo set of the Tunis bombing, 1943. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection  Men of the Intelligence dept. of the 94th Fighter Group gathered around man at typewriter who is typing up combat reports on the last bombing mission in which their group escorted B-17s, at airdrome in the Sahara. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. The take-off is at 8:55 am. One by one Fortresses roar down the field, climb into the clear African sky, compose their elements and squadrons and head for Tunis. Noe sand streaming in wake of plane. In this desert post, sand is the insidious Axis agent that sabotages motors and spoils food. Few weeks ago, in fields nearer the coast, mud was the fliers' No. 1 gripe. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Protective screen of five American P-38 fighter planes over the arid Atlas mountains, viewed from over tail of an American medium bomber which they are escorting during its bombing mission to its target at El Aliuna airbase in Tunis. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Major Rudolph Flack, Squadron Commander/Pilot of B-17 Flying Fortress "Little Bill" relaxing with a cigarette inside his plane after returning from successful bombing mission in Tunisia, at Sahara desert airdrome. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Contact sheet from Margaret Bourke-White photo set of the Tunis bombing, 1943. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection  Portrait of ball turret gunner Sgt. James M. Abbott, before taking off in Amer. B-17 "Little Bill" on a bombing mission from Sahara desert airdrome. 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 in the Amer. B-17 "Little Bill", at Sahara desert airdrome. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Fortresses head for home leaving great smoke columns rising from bombed planes and fuel dumps on Tunis airport. In this picture you are looking Northeast across Tunisian coastal plain to Mediterranean. In upper left corner lies Bizerte. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  12th Air Force intelligence group officer Capt. Hazen Payette (3L) examing photographs of bombing raid with B-17 officers and crewmen including Lt. Carl Schultz (2L), Lt. Ed Weathers, Maj. Rudolph Flack, Maj. Joe Thomas (2R), at desert base during Allied North African campaign, WWII. Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  U.S. 12th Air Force ground crew and pilots after completing bombing mission, lined up with their mess kits, waiting to get food from large cooking pots at the right of the line, outside mess tent at their Sahara desert airdrome. 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