Don't let 'em down: Keep 'em flying with spares
Single-color sheet: a dark aircraft diving nose-down across a large US Army Air Forces star-and-circle insignia, with 'Don't let 'em down' above and 'Keep 'em flying with SPARES' below, and a Douglas Material Conservation Program emblem at right. The falling plane is the fear-appeal, and the national insignia lends the national cause to a parts-saving request.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Douglas Aircraft Company, Material Conservation Program
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Corporation
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front, Economy and finance
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 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 Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Douglas Aircraft Company. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-672 (NAID 514151).
Text on the object
"DON'T LET 'EM DOWN" "Keep 'em flying with SPARES" DOUGLAS MATERIAL CONSERVATION PROGRAM ILLUSTRATED PARTS CATALOG S-100
