This is What YOU are Making... A Mighty Engine of British Workmanship (The Bristol Hercules Sleeve Valve Engine)
A numbered cutaway drawing of the Bristol Hercules aero-engine fills the sheet, with a key of 54 parts and a panel listing the bombers and fighters that use it. The banner 'A Mighty Engine of British Workmanship' attaches a virtue phrase to the factory worker addressed as 'YOU', while the parts list and aircraft names supply the factual detail.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1940
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of Aircraft Production
- 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
- War and the military, 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, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
Ministry of Aircraft Production, c. 1940-1945. National Archives and Records Administration, Foreign Posters (44-PF-53).
Text on the object
This is what YOU are making . . . THIS ENGINE IS INSTALLED IN THE LANCASTER, HALIFAX, STIRLING, WELLINGTON AND BEAUFIGHTER. OPERATING IN ALL SPHERES OF ATTACK AND DEFENCE, INCLUDING LONG RANGE DUTIES OVER CONVOYS. HORSEPOWER OVER 1,650. MINISTRY OF AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION THE BRISTOL HERCULES SLEEVE VALVE ENGINE A MIGHTY ENGINE of BRITISH WORKMANSHIP [numbered parts key 1-54, e.g. 1 AIRSCREW SHAFT; 16 MASTER CONNECTING ROD; 54 HAND TURNING CONNECTION; not transcribed in full]
