---
title: A British "Spitfire" on Patrol
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-british-spitfire-on-patrol-1939/
description: A colour picture of a Spitfire fighter banking against the sky, with a Union flag emblem marked 'For Freedom'.
section: Collection
---

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3. A British "Spitfire" on Patrol

[![A British "Spitfire" on Patrol, 1939 UK poster: A colour picture of a Spitfire fighter banking against the sky, with a Union](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-british-spitfire-on-patrol-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-british-spitfire-on-patrol-1939.jpg)

# A British "Spitfire" on Patrol

A colour picture of a Spitfire fighter banking against the sky, with a Union flag emblem marked 'For Freedom'. The tell for transfer is the flag and roundels carrying the message; the tell for card-stacking is the claim that German pilots 'dread' the aircraft and that it accounted for hundreds of enemy aircraft, with no source or denominator.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)

## Text on the object

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

```
A BRITISH
"SPITFIRE"
ON PATROL

GERMAN PILOTS have learned to dread the British "Spitfire," which is so fast and so manoeuvrable that it has accounted for hundreds of enemy bombers and fighters. "Spitfire" fighters escort bombers on their many daylight attacks on German-controlled industries on the Continent.

[imprint:] FOR FREEDOM  GPD/ED9/4
```

[← British Railroads Give Priority to Troops and War Workers](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-british-railroads-priority-troops-war-workers-1939/) [British Weapons to Defeat Hitler - Britain's Air Force is Now Stronger than Hitler's →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-british-weapons-air-force-stronger-than-hitlers-1939/)

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- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [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)
