This is what YOU are making... A Mighty Machine of British Workmanship (Handley Page Halifax II)
A cutaway technical drawing of the Handley Page Halifax II bomber, with a specification box (300 mph, 3,000 miles, ten .303 Brownings), sits beside an empty framed panel headed 'This is what YOU are making'. The headline 'A Mighty Machine of British Workmanship' attaches a virtue phrase to the aircraft (glittering generalities), and the 'YOU' casts each factory worker as the maker of the bomber (identity fusion).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of Aircraft Production (printed by Malby & Sons, Lith.); drawing by J. H. Clark, copyright 'The Aeroplane'
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Science and technology, Labor
- 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
Ministry of Aircraft Production; drawing by J. H. Clark. National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-54c.
Text on the object
This is what YOU are making . . . THE HANDLEY PAGE HALIFAX II (Four Rolls-Royce Merlin XX motors) Maximum Speed . . . 300 m.p.h. Range . . . 3000 miles. FOUR GUN TURRETS 10 BROWNING .303S Drawing by J. H. Clark, Copyright THE AEROPLANE Span 98 ft. 8 in.; Length 70 ft. 1 in.; Height 21 ft. 7 in.; Wing Area 1,250 sq. ft.; Fuel Capacity 1,886 Imp. gals.; Max. Bomb Load 13,000 lb.; Normal Loaded Weight 60,000 lb. MINISTRY OF AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION MALBY & SONS, LITH. A MIGHTY MACHINE of BRITISH WORKMANSHIP [Plus a numbered key (1 to 78) to the drawing's parts and the drawing's callouts; not transcribed in full.]
