Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
British Weapons to Defeat Hitler - Britain's Air Force is Now Stronger than Hitler's, 1939 UK poster: Orange and navy

British Weapons to Defeat Hitler - Britain's Air Force is Now Stronger than Hitler's

Orange and navy silhouettes of a Spitfire fighter and a Stirling bomber carry plain-language specifications ('over 400 miles an hour', 'thousands of big bombers') above a Union flag and the claim 'Britain's Air Force is now stronger than Hitler's'. The comparison is asserted with no figures for the German side (card-stacking), and the flag and the word 'British' stand in for the proof.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Card stackingGlittering generalities
Date
1939
Period
Second World War
Made by
British government (Air Ministry subject; issuer inferred); printed for HMSO by Greenslade & Co. (Reading) Ltd.
Region
Western and Central Europe
Country
United Kingdom
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
State
Regime
Churchill Government
Leader
Winston Churchill
Audience
Mixed
Purpose
Reassure
Themes
War and the military, Science and technology
Event
World War II
Regime
Churchill wartime government
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)
UK government poster; National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), WWII Foreign Posters, NAID 44266330.

Text on the object

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

BRITISH WEAPONS
TO DEFEAT HITLER

THIS IS A FIGHTER ("SPITFIRE")
Flies at over 400 miles an hour, and carries one airman who can fire eight machine guns at once, at a rate of 9,600 bullets a minute.

THIS IS A BOMBER ("STIRLING")
Bombers like this attack Berlin. They carry 8 men and many tons of bombs. Britain has thousands of big bombers like this to attack Germany.

BRITAIN'S AIR FORCE IS NOW
STRONGER THAN HITLER'S

PRINTED IN ENGLAND BY GREENSLADE & CO. (READING) LTD.
FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE.

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