Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Serve in the WAAF with the Men who Fly, 1939 UK poster: A WAAF auxiliary in uniform stands in front of and slightly above

Serve in the WAAF with the Men who Fly

A WAAF auxiliary in uniform stands in front of and slightly above a helmeted airman with oxygen mask, with a Union flag and an RAF ensign with roundel behind them against a blue-to-orange sky. The tell for transfer is the pairing of the recruit with the flags, the flier and the 'men who fly', so the prestige of the aircrew attaches to ground service.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Transfer
Date
1939
Period
Second World War
Made by
Air Ministry / H.M. Stationery Office; artist Jonathan Foss; printed by Lowe & Brydone Printers Ltd.
Region
Western and Central Europe
Country
United Kingdom
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
State
Regime
Churchill Government
Leader
Winston Churchill
Audience
Domestic public
Purpose
Recruit
Themes
War and the military, Gender and suffrage
Event
World War II
Regime
Churchill wartime government
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)
Air Ministry / H.M. Stationery Office, c. 1939-1945. U.S. National Archives, Record Group 44 (NARA ID 44267053).

Text on the object

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

SERVE IN THE WAAF
WITH THE MEN WHO FLY

[signature:] FOSS

Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Lowe & Brydone Printers Ltd., London [remainder of small print illegible]

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