---
title: Leaders of the Royal Air Force
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-leaders-of-the-royal-air-force-1941/
description: Seventeen portrait photographs of RAF commanders in gold frames, each with name, honours and command, surround a central portrait of the Chief of the Air
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Leaders of the Royal Air Force

[![Leaders of the Royal Air Force, 1941 UK poster: Seventeen portrait photographs of RAF commanders in gold frames, each](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-leaders-of-the-royal-air-force-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-leaders-of-the-royal-air-force-1941.jpg)

# Leaders of the Royal Air Force

Seventeen portrait photographs of RAF commanders in gold frames, each with name, honours and command, surround a central portrait of the Chief of the Air Staff beneath the RAF crest and the motto 'Per ardua ad astra'. The tell is the crest, crown and uniforms framing the portraits, which lend the service's institutional prestige to the named officers (transfer).

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

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

```
LEADERS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
PER ARDUA AD ASTRA
AIR CHIEF MARSHAL SIR CHARLES PORTAL, K.C.B., D.S.O., M.C. CHIEF OF THE AIR STAFF
AIR CHIEF MARSHAL SIR WILFRID FREEMAN VICE-CHIEF OF THE AIR STAFF
AIR VICE-MARSHAL N. H. BOTTOMLEY DEPUTY CHIEF OF THE AIR STAFF
AIR MARSHAL SIR SHOLTO DOUGLAS FIGHTER COMMAND
AIR CHIEF MARSHAL SIR PHILIP JOUBERT de la FERTE COASTAL COMMAND
AIR MARSHAL SIR ARTHUR BARRATT ARMY CO-OPERATION COMMAND
AIR MARSHAL SIR LESLIE GOSSAGE BALLOON COMMAND
AIR MARSHAL SIR RICHARD PEIRSE BOMBER COMMAND
AIR MARSHAL J. S. T. BRADLEY MAINTENANCE COMMAND
AIR MARSHAL A. W. TEDDER ROYAL AIR FORCE, MIDDLE EAST
AIR VICE-MARSHAL C. W. H. PULFORD ROYAL AIR FORCE, FAR EAST
AIR MARSHAL SIR WILLIAM WELSH FLYING TRAINING COMMAND
AIR MARSHAL P. BABINGTON AIR MEMBER FOR PERSONNEL
AIR MARSHAL SIR CHRISTOPHER COURTNEY AIR MEMBER FOR SUPPLY AND ORGANISATION
AIR MARSHAL A. G. R. GARROD AIR MEMBER FOR TRAINING
AIR MARSHAL J. T. BABINGTON TECHNICAL TRAINING COMMAND
ACP 16-8-1941
(Rank, honours and command lines abbreviated to names and commands; small print read from image.)
```

[← Ju88 - Tactical Poster 110](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-ju88-tactical-poster-110-air-diagram-1350-1941/) [Me109 - Tactical Poster 109 →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-me109-tactical-poster-109-air-diagram-1351-1941/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [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)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [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)
