Know the weather up there!
Two-panel comic: Gooney tests the wind by licking a finger while colleagues launch a weather balloon beside him, then sits with injured crewmen outside an infirmary after a stormy flight. The verse says clear weather was what he always said. The technique is a fear-appeal of injury and embarrassment from ignoring forecast data.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army Air Forces (artist: Lantz)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- 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-1391F (NAID 515055).
Text on the object
GOONEY CHECKED WIND THE FINGER WAY CLEAR WEATHER AHEAD IS WHAT HE’D ALWAYS SAY WHEN STORMS AND BUMPS WERE MET INSTEAD GOONEY BLUSHED AS THE CREW SAW RED. KNOW THE WEATHER UP THERE! INFIRMARY [signature:] LANTZ [imprint:] ☆ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943—O—500830
