A Flight of "Stirling" Bombers out on a Raid
A colour photograph of three RAF Short Stirling bombers in flight over fields, with a Union flag emblem marked 'For Freedom' and a caption block. The tell for transfer is the flag and RAF roundels carrying the message; the tell for card-stacking is that the text reports bomb-load, low flying and welcoming civilians in Occupied Europe with no losses or results given.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Unattributed: 'For Freedom' emblem with Union flag; no issuing body, printer or artist named on the sheet
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Mixed
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Science and technology
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- 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; hosted by owner decision
Unattributed ('For Freedom' emblem, GPD/ED9/2). National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-337a.
Text on the object
A FLIGHT OF "STIRLING" BOMBERS SETS OUT ON A RAID THESE POWERFUL, four-engined "Stirling" bombers carry four times the bomb-load of most two-engined bombers. They often fly so low over Europe on their way to an objective that the pilots can read the time from station clocks! People in Occupied Europe wave a greeting to these British aircraft as they roar over the land; they know that Allied air superiority is helping to end the war more quickly. [imprint:] FOR FREEDOM GPD/ED9/2
