They Cheer - When You Use No Altitude

In this desert-set WWII-era safety poster, a battered pilot crouches beside his wrecked aircraft, gripping the bent control stick still attached to the nose of the plane. Bandaged and wide-eyed, he’s just crash-landed after flying too low — his looping smoke trail ending abruptly in the cracked earth. Behind a mountain ridge, Axis leaders Hitler, Tojo, and Mussolini cheer with visible satisfaction, thrilled to witness another costly Allied mistake. This image is part of the “They Cheer” series — a set of 16 posters produced during World War II by the Directorate of Air Traffic and Safety and the Directorate of Safety Education. These bold, comic-style visuals were designed to reinforce critical safety lessons to young military aviators undergoing fast-tracked training. The exaggerated scenes use irony and enemy approval to add urgency to routine protocols. In this case, the message is unmistakable: never fly so low that you leave yourself no room to recover. The visual design is both lighthearted and sobering — the expressive characters and dramatic action grab attention, while the deeper implication is grave. Each misstep that grounded a pilot gave the enemy reason to cheer, and that made safety not just a personal matter, but a patriotic one.

This is an Original Vintage Poster; it is not a reproduction. This poster was printed on heavyweight paper and is in excellent condition apart from slight toning at folds. We guarantee the authenticity of all of our posters.