The Five Carnation Corn Flakes “Aircraft Recognition Cards” Sets (F270)
The Albers Milling Company, A Division of Carnation Company, Oakland, CA, USA
By: John Shupek and Pete D'Luhosch

Carnation's Airplane Trade Card Sets - Overview

During the past several years, there has been some confusion about who actually issued the Carnation Airplane Trade Cards sets … the Albers Milling Company or the Carnation Company?. The answer to the above question is BOTH.

The following envelope indicates that the Albers Milling Company was actually A Division of the Carnation Company. This makes the Albers Milling Company responsible for the Carnation Corn Flakes product line, and thusly, the issuer for Carnation's Airplane Trade Card Series (F270) of airplane trade cards.

Albers Milling Company, A Division of Carnation Company, Oakland, California, USA

The actual composition of Carnation's F270 multiple sets of Airplane Trade Card Sets (F270) sets was not fully understood.

The interest in this set peaked circa 2015, when veteran non-sports airplane card collector Albert B. Al Kramer discovered the previously unknown red livery Douglas D558-2 Skyrocket card. At the time of its discovery, the red livery Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket card was thought to be an orphan card, i.e. a unique or test card not belonging to any known trade card set.

However, research during the first five months of 2016 conducted by veteran non-sports airplane trade card collectors Pete D'Luhosch of PJD Enterprises, and John Shupek of Skytamer Images, documented the existence of five distinct F270 Carnation Airplane Trade Card Sets, with five distinct checklists, and 211 individual cards, including the previously unknown red livery Douglas D558-2 Skyrocket and the North American T-28 Advanced Trainer with the straight vertical stabilizer cards.

Each of the five individual sets is easily distinguishable by the configuration of the card corners, the number of branding lines on the card's reverse, and the size of the 3-view image on the reverse. The key recognition points for each of the five sets is shown below.

“Airplane Flash Cards, Set 1” (F270-1)
Albers Milling Company, A Division of Carnation Company, Oakland, CA, USA

During 1952, Carnation Corn Flakes issued their original 42-card boxed set of “Airplane Flash Cards” (F270-1). We believe that this initial F270-1 card set was marketed as a:

1. Retail store over-the-counter product, or
2. Carnation Corn Flakes cereal box premium mail-order offer.

The key features of of the “Airplane Flash Cards, Set 1” are noted above and below.

“Aircraft Recognition Cards, Set 2” (F270-2)
Albers Milling Company, A Division of Carnation Company, Oakland, CA, USA

“Aircraft Recognition Cards, Set 2” (F270-2) is a square cornered, 42-card set airplane trade card set. This set is the second of Carnation's Aircraft Trade Cards sets. The title of the set has morphed from “Airplane Flash Cards, Set 1” into “Aircraft Recognition Cards, Set 2” (F270-2). This second F270-2 set, corrects the two Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket cards found in the initial F270-1 set. The F270-2 set introduces the Douglas D-558 Skystreak card in place of the red livery Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket card.

Set 2 also makes sure that the 3-view drawings on the backs of these cards are consistent with the aircraft configuration shown on the card fronts. However, it does contain an error card, the North American AJ-1 Attack Bomber card. The 3-view drawing on the back has the CLASSIFIED notice on the back side of the card reversed. This error was eventually corrected in Set 3 (F270-2), a 42-card set with the large radius corners. We are not sure how this 2nd set was actually distributed. We are not sure whether or not the cards were inserted within the Carnation Corn Flakes breakfast cereal boxess or by some other means.

The key features of the F270-2 set are shown below.

“Aircraft Recognition Cards, Set 3” (F270-3)

The Aircraft Recognition Cards, Set 3 (F270-3) is actually the 2nd of the Aircraft Recognition Cards titled card sets. This large corner radius, 42-card set, corrects the North American AJ-1 Attack Bomber F270-2 error card in which the CLASSIFIED notice on the back side of the card is reversed. This is the first of the five sets that we've confirmation that the card set was packaged One in Every Box of Carnation Corn Flakes.

Key Features: (1) Large radius corners, (2) One line of Carnation branding, and (3) 4-cards in the set

1. The cards are PLC type cards with large radius corners of 0.219 inch.
2. One line of branding - Carnation Corn Flakes appears on the reverse side of the card.
3. Set 3 is comprised of 42 unnumbered airplane cards, and has the same composition/checklist as Set 2 (F270-2)
4. The error on the back of the North American AJ-1 card from Set 2 has been corrected.

Aircraft Recognition Cards, Set 4 (F270-4)

The F270-4 Aircraft Recognition Cards set was originally thought to contain 44 cards, which included both versions of the North America T-28 Advanced Trainer with the folded vertical stabilizer and the straight vertical stabilizer cards. It soon became apparent that the two North American T-28 Advanced Trainer cards actually belonged to separate sets:

It turned out that the Aircraft Recognition Cards, Set 4 (F270-4), was the Was the home for thecontained the North American T-28 Advanced Trainer with the straight vertical stabilizer Kierkegaardfolded tail T-28 card, while Set 5 (F270-5) included the straight tail T-28 card.

Set 4 (F270-4) is a small corner radius 43-card set, which shares the same checklist as Set 3, with the addition of the Northrop F-89 Scorpion card. Sets 4 and 5 are the only two sets that contain the Northrop F-89 Scorpion card. The key features of this set are shown below.

1. The set is comprised of 43 unnumbered airplane cards.
2. The cards are PLC type cards, with small radius corners of 0.095 inch.
3. Two lines of branding - This card from a package of Carnation Corn Flakes appear on the reverse side of the cards.
4. This set includes only one T-28 card, the folded tail version.
5. The Northrop F-89 Scorpion card has been added bringing the total number of cards in Set 4 to 43-cards.

Aircraft Recognition Cards, Set 5 (F270-5)

The Aircraft Recognition Cards, Set 5 (F270-5) is a 42-card, small corner radius, set similar to the 43-card, large corner radius Aircraft Recognition Cards, Set 4 (F270-4). Changes from the previous Set 4 (F270-4), include the removal of the Republic F-84F Thunderjet/REAR VIEW card. The North American T-28 Advanced Trainer - Folded Vertical Stabilizer card has been replaced with the T-28 Straight Vertical Stabilizer card.

The major change to Set 5 (F270-5), is the size of the 3-View Drawings on the card's reverse. The overall dimensions of the 3-View Drawings have been reduced to 87.35% the size of the previous Set 4 (F270-4).

This set also serves as the 42-card template for the Country Peach Ice Cream Airplanes (F49) 42-card set, and the 3-Minute Oats Airplanes (F285) series of 42-card sets.

First of all, Set 5 was originally just thought of as being a variety of the Aircraft Recognition Cards, Set 4 (F270-4) set with 44 cards). It was not until early 2016, some 64 years after the sets were issued, that Lee Kalk and Pete D'Luhosch, noticed differences in the sizes of the 3-view drawings on the backs of several of the “same” F270-4 cards. It was then realized that the Aircraft Recognition Cards, Set 4 (F270-4) was in reality a Siamese-twin card set, with two different checklists.

Most likely when Set 5 (F270-5) was first issued, the young collectors of that era were pretty much worn out from collecting the sets and simply failed to notice the differences in the various sets. The differences in the cards were probably just unnoticed due to collector fatigue. This of course most likely resulted in ample use of the CFC (Circular File Cabinet - a.k.a. Waste Paper Basket), thus making the tossed cards even more scarce. Anyhow, hats off to Lee Kalk and Pete D'Luhosch for discovering the existence of Sets 4 (F270-4) and Set 5 (F270-5).

1. The set is comprised of 42 unnumbered airplane cards.
2. The cards are PLC type cards with small radius corners of 0.095 inch.
3. The 3-view drawings on card backs are 87.35% the size of the previous sets.
4. Two lines of branding - This card from a package of/Carnation Corn Flakes appear on the reverse side of the card.
5. The Republic F-84F Thunderjet/REAR VIEW card has been removed.
6. The 3-view drawing on the North American T-28 Advanced Trainer card is the straight vertical stabilizer version rather than a folded vertical stabilizer version used in Sets 1 through Set 4.

The transition between Set 4 (F270-4] and Set 5 (F270-5] is certainly worthy of a quick look. The North American T-28 Advanced Trainer card was the Eureka card which proved that the Aircraft Recognition Cards, Set 4 (F270-4) was actually two different sets. The North American T-28 Advanced Trainer vertical stabilizers illustrated on the card's 3-view drawings were different. One T-28 card had a folded vertical stabilizer (F270-4), and the other T-28 card had a straight vertical stabilizer (F270-5). Also, the sizes of the T-28 3-view drawings were different. This proved beyond doubt that Set 4 (F270-4) was actually two sets, rather than one.

As a side note, there are only two cards that appear only once in all of the five of the Carnation airplane card sets. The red livery Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket only appears in the boxed Set 1 (F270-1). The North American T-28 Advanced Trainer with the standard (straight) vertical stabilizer only appears in Set 5 (F270-5). Again, this was not know until early 2016.

Five Set Checklist

The following composite checklist shows the composition of all five of the Carnation Aircraft Flash Cards/Aircraft Recognition Cards Airplane Trade Card Sets.

Similar Aircraft Recognition Trade Card Sets

The Carnation “Aircraft Recognition Cards”, Set 1 through Set 5 (F270 series) has siblings that you may want to take a look at. The following “sibling” Airplane Trade Card Sets all share the same color artwork with different card backs.

Hood Country Peach Ice Cream, “Airplanes” (F49)

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3-Minute Oats, “Airplanes” (F285)

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Oak Manufacturing Company, “Premier Trading Cards-Airplanes” (R724-1)

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Whitman Publishing Company, “New Trading Cards, Set B”

1. Albert B. “Al”Kramer: Card images via the Kramer Non-Sports Airplane Trade Card Collection.
2. Pete D'Luhosch: Card images via the D'Luhosch Non-Sports Airplane Trade Card Collection.
3. John A. Shupek: Card images via the Skytamer Archive Digital Image Database.

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