Object number2002.31.1

Flying Fortress Crew, 8th Bomber Command, England

Date1942

Artist Margaret Bourke-White (American, 1904-1971)

CultureAmerican

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsMatted: 11 x 14 in. (27.94 x 35.56 cm)
Sheet: 7 x 9 3/8 in. (17.78 x 23.81 cm)

Credit LineGift from the Michael and Joyce Axelrod collection (Joyce Jacobson, class of 1961) in honor of Howard Greenberg

Period20th c

Classification(s)

Photograph

SignedSigned (with artist stamp, verso): Margaret Bourke-White

InscribedInscribed (verso, at left in type): US BOMBER COMMAND, ENGLAND ‘42. Fortress crews drive out to their dispersal points in jeeps, then climb into their Mae Wests, parachure harness, and flying clothes; (red stamp): USED IN LIFE CD ROM 1994; (in red stamp): USED IN LIFE OCT 1942; (in blue stamp and handwritten): 11491-A; (on bar coded label): TIME INC. PICTURE COLLECTTION

BibliographyLombino, Mary-Kay. Shape of Light: Defining Photographs from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. Poughkeepsie, NY: Vassar College, 2019, p. 57 ; MB 433

Vassar Exhibitions

Shape of Light: Defining Photographs from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center

Exhibition HistoryShape of Light: Defining Photographs from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, September 20 - December 15, 2019

Label TextMargaret Bourke-White was a prolific war photographer during World War II, capturing detailed images of battlefields and homefronts to be reproduced in publications like LIFE magazine. Bourke-White even accompanied bombers during combat missions in North Africa. In the 1940s, Bourke-White visited the 8th Bomber Command base in southern England, where American soldiers had begun aiding British forces in conducting bombing missions across France and Germany. Included in the October 19, 1942 issue of LIFE, this image features the flight crew for a formation of Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” bomber planes.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu