---
title: Is he killing time ... or killing Nazis - Spares may decide
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-is-he-killing-time-or-killing-nazis-1940/
description: A painted close-up of a goggled pilot looking upward sits under a pun, 'Is he killing time ... or killing Nazis', closing with 'Spares may decide'.
section: Collection
---

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3. Is he killing time ... or killing Nazis - Spares may decide

[![Is he killing time... or killing Nazis - Spares may decide, 1940 UK poster: A painted close-up of a goggled pilot looking](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-is-he-killing-time-or-killing-nazis-1940.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-is-he-killing-time-or-killing-nazis-1940.jpg)

# Is he killing time ... or killing Nazis - Spares may decide

A painted close-up of a goggled pilot looking upward sits under a pun, 'Is he killing time ... or killing Nazis', closing with 'Spares may decide'. The pilot's heroism is transferred to the workers who supply aircraft spares, and 'Nazis' is the single label for the enemy.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)

## Text on the object

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

```
IS HE KILLING TIME
....OR KILLING NAZIS
Spares may decide

PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY FOSH & CROSS LTD., LONDON (51-4410)
MINISTRY OF AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION.
```

[← Beware of the Hun in the Sun](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-beware-of-the-hun-in-the-sun-1940/) ["Let Us Go Forward Together" (Churchill photograph poster) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-let-us-go-forward-together-churchill-1940/)

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- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
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- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
