---
title: Vliegende forten, vliegende doodkisten! (Flying fortresses, flying coffins!)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/vliegende-forten-vliegende-doodkisten-1943/
description: A charcoal-toned drawing of heavy bombers whose fuselages are plain coffins with small crosses, under the red and black headline 'Flying fortresses…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** Wartime German poster picturing Allied bombers as coffins This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Vliegende forten, vliegende doodkisten! (Flying fortresses, flying coffins!)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/vliegende-forten-vliegende-doodkisten-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/vliegende-forten-vliegende-doodkisten-1943.jpg)

# Vliegende forten, vliegende doodkisten! (Flying fortresses, flying coffins!)

A charcoal-toned drawing of heavy bombers whose fuselages are plain coffins with small crosses, under the red and black headline 'Flying fortresses, flying coffins!'. The tell: the Allied aircraft's nickname is turned into a coffin by wordplay and image alone, with no figures, date or place given.

## Text on the object

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

```
Vliegende FORTEN

Vliegende DOODKISTEN!

OFFENTLICHE AUSHÄNGUNG GENEHMIGT DURCH DIE DIENSTSTELLE DES REICHSKOMMISSARS. No.5027 Uithangtijd 27 Oct—10 Nov
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Flying FORTS

Flying COFFINS!

PUBLIC DISPLAY APPROVED BY THE OFFICE OF THE REICH COMMISSIONER. No. 5027 Display period 27 Oct-10 Nov
```

A small printer's mark at the lower right is not transcribed. Translation is FRAME's own literal rendering, machine-assisted and not verified by a fluent reader.

[← J'aimerais mieux rendre l'âme à Dieu (I would rather give up my soul to God), ORAFF poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/vichy-joan-of-arc-english-hands-oraff-1943/) [We Can Do It! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/we-can-do-it-1943/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)