Cadets Lend a Hand to the R. A. F.
A photograph shows smiling air cadets pushing a truck of incendiary bombs towards a Stirling bomber, with a caption saying young men 'are not content with waiting' and load bombs to be 'dropped on Germany'. The tell for plain-folks is the schoolboys-on-holiday framing of bomb loading as ordinary helpfulness; the 'For Freedom' tag is a virtue phrase.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- British government wartime poster series 'For Freedom' (issuing department and printer not stated; series mark and sheet code 'E.E.1.' only)
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- 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
- Held by NARA, Unrestricted; no rights statement on the sheet; hosted by owner decision
British wartime poster series 'For Freedom' (issuer not stated). National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-172k.
Text on the object
E.E.1. [logo: Union Jack] FOR FREEDOM CADETS LEND A HAND TO THE R.A.F. YOUNG MEN in cadet units are not content with waiting until they are old enough to fly. During their school holidays they visit R.A.F. aerodromes and help to load up bombers. The truck is full of incendiaries to be dropped on Germany by the "Stirling" bomber in the background. In addition huge high-explosive bombs are carried.
