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
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army Recruiting Service
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- 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 Recruiting Service. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1172 (NAID 514768).
Text on the object
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
