1953 “British Planes” (MON-1-2)
Morning Foods Ltd., UK, 25-card numbered set of airplane trading cards

• Title: British Planes (numbered)
• British Trade Index: MON-1-2
• Issued by: Morning Foods Ltd., North Western Mills, Crewe, England, UK
• Packaged with: Mornflake Quick Cooking Oats
• No. of Cards: 25
• Numbering: 1 to 25
• Dimensions: 67.8 × 38.9 mm
• Circa: 1953

Overview ^1,2

Mornflake is a producer of oat and oat-based breakfast cereals. Based in Crewe, Cheshire, England, it was founded in 1675. The Mornflake brand of oat cereals was created in 1941, during the Second World War. The brand has been re-launched with updated packaging and a new products. The company has been milling oats in Cheshire since 1675 and is now one of Crewe's larger employers, alongside companies such as Bentley Motors. Mornflake was first launched in 1941 by the Lea family who have been milling oats in Cheshire since 1675 (for 14 generations). Mornflake is produced by Mornflake Oats Ltd., a subsidiary of Morning Foods, reportedly the 8th oldest company in the UK. Mornflake oats are produced from grain grown on farms throughout England, Scotland and Wales. Mornflake products are exported to 52 countries including the U.S.A, Japan, China, India and across Europe. The company has been a previous winner of the Queen's Award for Export Achievement. ¹

During 1953, Morning Foods Ltd., issued two series of airplane trade cards packaged with their “Mornflake Oats” breakfast cereals. Both sets consisted of 25 airplane cards. The untitled card fronts of both sets featured photos of British aircraft in flight surrounded by a white border. According to the Murray Guide², the two sets are simply titled: (1) “British Planes (numbered)” and (2) “British Planes (unnumbered)”. According to the Murray Guide², the “British Planes (Numbered)” set is the scarcer of the two sets. The measured card dimensions are 67.8 × 38.9 mm. As of 8/14/2013, Skytamer Images does not know if any album(s) was/is associated with either set.

The reverse side of the “numbered” set contained the following three main vertical elements (top to bottom):

1. Four Advertising Lines:


1. PRESENTED BY


2. MORNFLAKE


3. QUICK COOKING OATS


4. “The Best in any Packet”


2. A text box with four vertical elements:


1. The card number.


2. A brief history of the aircraft. The first sentence serves as the card title.


3. An advertising line which includes the set title: Series of 25 British Planes


4. An advertising line in script: Swap them until you have a complete set


3. Beneath the lined box there are three advertising lines:


1. Made by


2. MORNING FOODS LTD


3. North Western Mills, Crewe.

Image Guide

The following images of all of the 1953 “British Planes (numbered)” 25-card set by Morning Foods Ltd. are being presented as a guide to assist collectors. All of the images have been regenerated based on low grade image scans of the set and high grade scans of the 1953 “British Planes (unnumbered)” 25-card set to use as a guide. When printed out at 600 dpi, the following images may serve as “filler” cards to help complete your collection.

Checklist

The checklist for the 1953 “British Planes (numbered)” 25-card set by Morning Foods Ltd., is presented below. Please note that this set is different from the 1953 “British planes (unnumbered)” 25-card set also by Morning Foods Limited.

Contributors

John Shupek — John is retired Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineer that lives in Southern California. John's 36 year aerospace career/adventure started in the mid-1960s when he worked for Pratt & Whitney at their “FRDC” … Florida Research and Development Center, West Palm Beach, Florida. John was part of the P&W jet engine design team for the CIA/USAF's Lockheed A-12/SR-71A “Oxcart/Blackbird” engines (J58/JT11D-20). He also worked on the RL-10 rocket engine and the JTF-17A which was P&W's entry into the United States' SST competition between Boeing and Lockheed. Several years later, John moved back to California and worked at the AiResearch Mfg. Company at LAX and Torrance. He originally worked on the thermal design of the HRE (Hypersonic Ramjet Engine) which was a supersonic combustion Mach 7 ramjet engine that was to be tested on the North American X-15. John did about three more years of jet engine design work before he disappeared for 13 years into the classified DOE “GCEP” (Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Plant) Atomic Energy program for the enrichment of U₂₃₅. After the GCEP program was cancelled by the DOE in 1985, John was hired by Northrop Aircraft to do the thermal design for Northrop's entry into the ATF (Advanced Tactical Fighter) competition, the Northrop YF-23A “Black Widow II” stealth supercruise fighter. He also worked on the Northrop Grumman B-2A “Spirit” stealth bomber. After several years on a classified stealth missile program, John worked the remainder of his Aerospace career as one of Northrop Grumman's Program Directors on the United States Navy's F/A-18E/F “Super Hornet” jet fighter program.

During John's career at Northrop Grumman he served for five years as Northrop's “Vintage Aircraft Club” Commissioner and the Curator and Webmaster for the Western Museum of Flight in Hawthorne, California. Several years later, John was the volunteer webmaster (for about 3 years) for the Yanks Air Museum, Chino, California. He also served as President and webmaster for two different NPO's after his retirement. The Whittier Historical Society & Museum and Whittier Meals on Wheels.

John's love of aviation history and aviation photography lead to the establishment of this Skytamer.com website in 1998. The Skytamer.com site has continued to expand and will always grow and will never be completed. It's sort of analogous to a snowball rolling down a hill without any trees to stop it. In approximately 2002, John remembered that he had collected Topps “Wings” (ACC# R707-4) airplane trading cards while in High School. Somehow the cards had disappeared over the years. So at this point, he started to re-collect airplane trading cards via eBay and become an airplane card “Image Collector” rather than a “Card Collector” per se. After John scans an airplane card for the website, he has no further use for it and he puts it back into circulation via eBay. John's mission statement for the Skytamer.com is basically to restore and preserve high-quality card images/artwork associated with the various airplane card sets from the early 1900s to the present. These cards are wonderful historical “snapshots” into aviation history showing which aviation events and aircraft were important at that point in time. For the Skytamer.com website, basically if it is a trading card collection that features things that fly, but doesn't have feathers, it eligible for the consideration on the Skytamer.com website. John always welcome inputs and high resolution scans (600-dpi) that can be used on this website. John can be reached via the “Contact Us” navigation button on the left.

References

1. Wikipedia, Mornflake
2. Murray Cards International) Limited. Cigarette Card Values 2011/12 Catalog of Cigarette and Other Trade Cards, ISBN 0-946942-31-2, London, 2012.
3. Shupek, John A., Card images via the Skytamer Archive