Card #2: Attack Bomber (Bell YFM-1 “Airacuda”), Circa 1940

The Aviation Trading Cards Collection consists of approximately 700 collectable trade cards and stamps issued by various industries, primarily the “cigarette cards” of tobacco manufacturers. The majority of the card or stamp series feature airplanes, but some series focus on famous aviators. Some are preserved in albums specially designed and marketed for a particular series.

Series I, Tobacco Company Cards, includes over 500 cigarette cards issued by tobacco companies in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The materials date between about 1929 and 1940, with the exception of a 1996 reproduction set (from an original 1936 set). The series consists predominantly of cards issued by John Player & Sons (branch of the Imperial Tobacco Co. of Great Britain and Ireland) and Wings (part of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., Louisville, Kentucky). Other manufacturers included are: Carreras (London); Gallaher (London and Belfast); Murray Sons & Co. (Belfast); Tuckett (Hamilton, Ontario); and W.D. & H.O. Wills (branch of the Imperial Tobacco Co. of Great Britain and Ireland).

Series II, Other Industry Cards and Stamps, includes approximately 170 trade cards and collectable stamps issued by non-tobacco industries. The materials date between about 1925 and 1940. Many of the items in this series are mounted in specially designed albums. Companies represented in this series include: Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. (Whitman, Massachusetts); H. J. Heinz Co. (Pittsburgh); Lahusen’s (part of Wahler & Schwarz, Kunstanstalt, Stuttgart, Germany); Skelly Oil Co. (Tulsa); Thompson Products (Cleveland); and Tide Water Associated Oil Company (San Francisco).