---
title: '"Keep ''em Flying" is our battle cry! First class fighting men needed'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/keep-em-flying-first-class-fighting-men-1942/
description: 'Army Air Forces recruiting poster: the same flag-and-bomber image as the ''duty - honor - country'' sheet, with a text panel headed ''First class fighting men'
section: Collection
---

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3. "Keep 'em Flying" is our battle cry! First class fighting men needed

[!["Keep 'em Flying" is our battle cry! First class fighting men needed, 1942 US poster: Army Air Forces recruiting poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/keep-em-flying-first-class-fighting-men-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/keep-em-flying-first-class-fighting-men-1942.jpg)

# "Keep 'em Flying" is our battle cry! First class fighting men needed

Army Air Forces recruiting poster: the same flag-and-bomber image as the 'duty - honor - country' sheet, with a text panel headed 'First class fighting men needed' and separate calls to aviation cadets (18 to 26) and soldiers (18 and 19, 'aggressive, alert, patriotic'). Flag and aircraft lend national symbolism (transfer); the descriptive adjectives are flattering virtues (glittering generalities).

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)

## Text on the object

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

```
"KEEP 'EM FLYING"
IS OUR BATTLE CRY!
FIRST CLASS FIGHTING MEN NEEDED
AVIATION CADETS . . . . .
Young Men, 18 to 26 Years
of Age Inclusive, for Air Crew
Training as Bombardiers,
Navigators and Pilots.
SOLDIERS . . . . Aggressive,
Alert, Patriotic, Young Men,
18 and 19 Years of Age, Who
Want to Fight for Their
Country, Especially Desired.
APPLY TODAY AT ANY U. S. ARMY RECRUITING STATION
[signature: DAN V. SMITH - ALBRO F. DOWNE]
[imprint: P-37-RPB-2-24-42-50M (uncertain)]
```

[← Keep 'em flying! Air crews are vital for victory](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/keep-em-flying-air-crews-vital-1942/) [Keep the Home Fires Burning: More Production! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/keep-the-home-fires-burning-more-production-1942/)

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- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [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)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)