Keep 'em flying! Air crews are vital for victory
Army Air Forces aviation-cadet recruiting poster: a colour photograph of six airmen in flight jackets and service caps studying a map beneath a formation of four-engine bombers, under the slogan 'Keep 'em flying!'. The tell is transfer, the prestige of uniforms and aircraft attached to enlistment, plus the abstract 'vital for victory'. Text gives the age range (18 to 26) and where to apply.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army Air Forces (photograph by Ivan Dmitri, courtesy of The Saturday Evening Post)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Recruit
- Theme
- War and the military
- 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)
U.S. Army Air Forces. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-38 (NAID 513527).
Text on the object
KEEP 'EM FLYING! Air Crews Are Vital For Victory YOUNG MEN, 18 TO 26 INCLUSIVE, CAN BE AVIATION CADETS FOR AIR CREW TRAINING AS BOMBARDIERS, NAVIGATORS AND PILOTS. APPLY AT ANY U.S. ARMY RECRUITING AND INDUCTION STATION [signature: Ivan Dmitri] [imprint: Photo by Ivan Dmitri, Courtesy of THE SATURDAY EVENING POST] [imprint: P-16-RPB-5-14-42-10MM]
Imprint print is very small; digits of the code are partly uncertain.
