This is what YOU are making... A Mighty Machine of British Workmanship (Avro Lancaster I)
A cutaway technical drawing of the Avro Lancaster I bomber, with a specification box (300 mph, 3,000 miles, ten .303 Brownings), sits beside an empty framed panel headed 'This is what YOU are making'. The headline 'A Mighty Machine of British Workmanship' attaches a virtue phrase to the aircraft (glittering generalities), and the 'YOU' casts each factory worker as the maker of the bomber (identity fusion).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of Aircraft Production (printed by Malby & Sons); drawing by J. H. Clark, copyright 'The Aeroplane'
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Science and technology, Labor
- 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 expired; no URAA restoration); hosted by owner decision
Ministry of Aircraft Production; drawing by J. H. Clark. National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-54d.
Text on the object
THE AVRO LANCASTER I (Four 1,280 h.p. Rolls-Royce Merlin XX Motors) This is what YOU are making . . . Maximum Speed . . . 300 m.p.h. Range . . . 3000 miles. FOUR GUN TURRETS 10 BROWNING .303S Drawing by J. H. CLARK Copyright "THE AEROPLANE" Span 102 ft. 0 in.; Length 69 ft. 4 in.; Height 20 ft. 0 in.; Wing Area (gross) 1,297 sq. ft.; Fuel Capacity 2,154 Imp. gals.; Max. Bomb Load 18,000 lb.; Normal Loaded Weight 60,000 lb. MINISTRY OF AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION MALBY & SONS A MIGHTY MACHINE of BRITISH WORKMANSHIP [Plus lettered and numbered keys to the drawing's parts and the drawing's callouts; not transcribed in full.]
