---
title: Keep 'em flying!
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/keep-em-flying-army-recruiting-service-1941/
description: 'A layered, dream-like composite in blue and gold: a giant farmer with a sheaf of wheat, a nurse, a chemist, a factory worker, a pilot.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Keep 'em flying!

[![Keep 'em flying!, 1941 US poster: A layered, dream-like composite in blue and gold](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/keep-em-flying-army-recruiting-service-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/keep-em-flying-army-recruiting-service-1941.jpg)

# Keep 'em flying!

A layered, dream-like composite in blue and gold: a giant farmer with a sheaf of wheat, a nurse, a chemist, a factory worker, a pilot, a sailor and a bayoneted infantryman in front of the U.S. flag, with the Capitol and smokestacks behind. The headline 'Keep 'em flying!' is followed by a printed verse. The technique is bandwagon: every group is shown joined in one effort, and the verse says 'One mind, one heart, one goal, one cause'.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) [Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Keep 'em Flying!
Keep 'em flying—
    Airplanes—flags—
Machines—production—
    Nothing lags.
Put your shoulder
    To the wheel;
Courage staunch
    With nerves of steel.
Greet each day,
    Or pledge a toast—
"Keep 'em flying"
    Is our boast.
Here's a slogan
    For us all—
An answer to
    Our country's call.
Keep 'em flying;
    Keep 'em clear.
The time is ripe,
    The time is HERE
To pull together—
    One bold front—
Each one prepared
    To do his stunt.
Workers and
    The men who hire—
Housewives—children—
    All aspire
To help and work
    With little pause—
One mind, one heart,
    One goal, one cause.
SO—"KEEP 'EM FLYING!"
—Jack Childs
[signature:] [illegible]
[imprint:] P-34-RPB-8-15-41-50M
PRESENTED BY THE UNITED STATES ARMY RECRUITING SERVICE
```

[← Keep 'em flying (banner, left section)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/keep-em-flying-army-recruiting-banner-detail-1941/) ["Keep 'em Flying" is our battle cry! Do your part for duty - honor - country →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/keep-em-flying-duty-honor-country-1941/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (Roman Empire · 0313 · Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I (Royal Museums Greenwich version), oil on panel](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/armada-portrait-elizabeth-i-greenwich-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)