Sheer Carelessness
A grey drawing shows a pilot in a cockpit looking back at two Spitfires in formation. The caption warns that neglecting to check oxygen or equipment 'may bring disaster on yourself and your formation', staging a harm to the pilot and his comrades as the reason to follow the check.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Air Ministry (Air Diagram 1299, 'For official use only'); drawing credited to the magazine Flight; printed for HMSO by Greycaine Ltd, Watford and London
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Theme
- War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- 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 Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
Air Ministry / HMSO; drawing credited to Flight, 1941. U.S. National Archives, Record Group 44.
Text on the object
SHEER CARELESSNESS NEGLECT TO CHECK YOUR OXYGEN OR OTHER EQUIPMENT MAY BRING DISASTER ON YOURSELF AND YOUR FORMATION. Drawing by Flight AIR DIAGRAM 1299 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
