Do You Know the Recognition Signal?
A grey painted scene shows an anti-aircraft gun crew in a sandbagged pit, one soldier raising an arm toward a flare and aircraft overhead, with an inset of the gun firing. The text tells crews to carry a note of the day's recognition signals; the fear-appeal tell is the implied consequence, a firing gun beside a signalling soldier, though no casualty is shown.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1940
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Air Ministry (inferred from 'Air Diagram 1301'), printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Jordison & Co., Ltd.; artist H. R. Millar
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- War and the military, Security and surveillance
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
Air Ministry (Air Diagram series), printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Jordison & Co., Ltd.; artist H. R. Millar; U.S. National Archives, WWII Foreign Posters, 44-PF-65d, NAID 44266154.
Text on the object
DO YOU KNOW THE RECOGNITION SIGNAL? DO NOT TRUST TO MEMORY ALONE. ALWAYS CARRY WITH YOU A NOTE OF THE RECOGNITION SIGNALS FOR THE DAY (IN A FORM, OF COURSE, THAT DISCLOSES NOTHING TO THE ENEMY). MAY, 1940 | AIR DIAGRAM 1301 ISSUE NO. 1 DATE MAY, 1940 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY [signature in the picture:] H. R. MILLAR PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY JORDISON & CO., LTD., LONDON AND MIDDLESBROUGH. 51-6679.
