Eyes of the Home Skies (1943), the Civil Air Patrol poster signed Kenney, Squadron 511-3

Eyes of the Home Skies is OCD Publication 7013, a 1943 recruiting poster for the Civil Air Patrol of the U.S. Office of Civilian Defense. A goggled, helmeted airman is shown in large profile with two small yellow aircraft above his brow, and the art is signed "Kenney, Squadron 511-3" (NAID 514058).

A profile and two planes

The palette is red, orange and blue, according to the archive. The largest element is one airman's head in profile, in goggles and a flying helmet. Above his brow fly two small yellow aircraft that carry the Civil Air Patrol roundel. The slogan sits with the name of the organization and its parent office.

Eyes of the Home Skies

CIVIL AIR PATROL

OF THE U. S. OFFICE OF CIVILIAN DEFENSE

[signature:] KENNEY, SQUADRON 511-3

[imprint:] OCD Publication 7013

A signature with a unit number

The signature adds a unit to the artist's name: "KENNEY, SQUADRON 511-3." The record gives no first name and says nothing about Kenney beyond what the signature prints.

The publication line places the Civil Air Patrol under the U.S. Office of Civilian Defense, and the Government Printing Office imprint dates the printing to 1943. FRAME files the purpose as "Recruit."

Volunteers as the country's eyes

The archive calls the technique faint here and tags only glittering generalities. The weight sits on the slogan. "Eyes of the Home Skies" casts the patrol as watchers over American airspace, and the heroic profile gives the watcher a face.

Nothing on the sheet says what members actually did, what training was needed, or who could join. It sells the role and leaves the duties out. The archive's own word for the people it addressed is volunteers: the government asked, and civilians chose whether to serve.

The Office of Civilian Defense marked its own second anniversary in 1943 with a sheet printing Roosevelt's letter to its director; see From the President of the United States: A Message. The Roosevelt administration essay covers the wartime offices.