Fighter pilot Richard Ira Bong and his wife, Marge Sieland, pose on an airstrip next to Bong’s P-38 Lightning (also named Marge) in Minnesota during a publicity tour.  Taken by a Minneapolis newspaper photographer on June 12, 1944.  Bong died in 1945 when the fuel pump of the plane he was flying malfunctioned.

For details, view the photograph in our online collections database.