Don't Give the Rear Gunner a "Sitter"
A grey drawing shows a German twin-engined bomber, marked with black crosses, with a British fighter breaking away above it, and the text warns that disengaging in a haphazard manner is 'the moment when you are most vulnerable to fire from the enemy's rear guns'. This is mainly flying instruction; fear-appeal is the closest fit, as the harm to the pilot is staged as the reason for the prescribed manoeuvre.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1940
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Air Ministry (Air Diagram 1302, 'For official use only'); drawing by Leslie Carr, credited to the magazine The Aeroplane; printed for H.M. Stationery Office 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 expired; no URAA restoration); hosted by owner decision
Air Ministry; drawing by Leslie Carr for The Aeroplane. National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-65e.
Text on the object
[drawing signed:] LESLIE CARR DON'T GIVE the REAR GUNNER a "SITTER" Don't disengage in a haphazard manner. Remember this is the moment when you are most vulnerable to fire from the enemy's rear guns. Drawing by THE AEROPLANE MAY, 1940 AIR DIAGRAM 1302 ISSUE NO. 1 DATE MAY, 1940 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Greycaine Ltd., Watford and London. 51-6679.
