1940-1941 “Aeroplanes - Series D” (R112-5)
Leaf Gum Company, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Series Title: “Aeroplanes - Series D”
ACC No.: R112-5
Manufactured by: Leaf Gum Company, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Packaged With: CARD-O Chewing Gum
Number of Cards: 55 Unique Cards, 3 Printings of 27 cards each
Numbering: unnumbered
Card Dimensions: 2¼ × 3½ inches PLC Format
Circa: 1940-1941
Checklist: Download

Overview

During World War II, multiple sets of Playing Card Types (PLC) of collector cards sets were issued. The American Card Catalog number of R112 is a catch-all designation used to group these PLC card sets (playing card format with rounded corners) into one umbrella category. These cards are generically referred to as CARD-O sets and include both gum and non-gum series. These sets generally have two things in common: (1) They all use the same rounded-corners, playing card format as the genuine CARD-O Gum issues; and (2) All of the known playing card sets, gum or non-gum, were manufactured or licensed by the Whitman Publishing Company. The sets cover the following topics: Airplanes & Warships, Aircraft Identification & Insignia Sets, Comic Character Sets, and General Subjects. The two ZOOM airplane card games are not part of the official R112 category, but are commonly associated with the CARD-O sets since they share the aircraft artwork. The two Whitman Squadron Scramble airplane card are however officially recognized with R112-8A and R112-8B ACC designations.

CARD-O “Aeroplanes — Series D”

The CARD-O “Aeroplanes - Series D” airplane card set is a bit confusing on how many cards are in the set. The cards themselves add to the confusion since five of the card backs claim that the set has 25 Cards and the remainder of the cards claim there are 27 Cards in the set. There appears to be twenty-nine (29) aircraft/title images divided between four printings. Each individual printing contains 27 cards. However, it is impossible to determine which of the non Republic P-47 cards belong to which printing. The cards are therefore divided into two main categories; (1) Plain back cards, and (2) Gum back cards. The key to understanding the individual printings lies with the Republic P-47 cards. There are actually three different Republic P-47 cards. Most of the available literature only mentions one P-47 card.

The 1st printing has color artwork featuring a REPUBLIC P-47 • United States (which is actually a Republic P-43 “Lancer”) a in a slight right-banking dive. The silver colored aircraft has tail markings consistent with U. S. Army aircraft markings prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. The back of the card has a title with the full name REPUBLIC P-47 THUNDERBOLT • United States followed by descriptive text and the set details AEROPLANES — Series D — 27 Cards.

The 2nd printing features completely different P-47 color artwork showing a REPUBLIC P-47 • United States in a slight left-banking climb. The tan colored aircraft has a camouflage scheme consistent with post Pearl Harbor markings. The title on the card front is exactly the same as the first printing. The card back is also the same as the 1st printing except it is a Type 2 back with the addition of the advertising line ☆ Packed with CARD-O CHEWING GUM ☆ located beneath the AEROPLANES — Series D — 27 Cards set details line.

The 3rd printing is the same as the second printing except the word THUNDERBOLT has been added to the title on the card front REPUBLIC P-47 THUNDERBOLT • United States. The card back is a Type 1 Back, the same as the 1st printing without the Gum advertising line.

The 4th printing is the same as the 3rd printing except the except it has a Type 2 back with the ☆ Packed with CARD-O CHEWING GUM ☆ advertising line.

The CARD-O “Aeroplanes — Series D” comes in two different varieties, both were issued by the Leaf Gum Company. The first variety has a simple text description on the reverse side of the card. The second variety contains the following advertising line ☆ Packed with CARD-O Chewing Gum ☆. Five of the cards noted the series length as 25 Cards rather than 27 Cards.

To make things a little more confusing, Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin also issued two sets of “ZOOM - The Airplane Card Game” (No. 1 and No. 2) that are often confused as being a R112-5 variety. The Whitman Airplane Card Games share much of the artwork that is used in the R112-5 series. It should be noted that the Whitman Publishing Company is the original source of the artwork used in the series. Their wartime booklets contain the original artwork used with this series and many others series such as the UO-1 Tydol series. The card dimensions are 2½ × 3½ inches with rounded corners. The American Card Catalog reference number for the set is R112-5.

CARD-O “Aeroplanes — Series D” (Type 1 — Plain back Cards) Image Guide

CARD-O “Aeroplanes — Series D” (Type 2 — Gum Backs) Image Guide

Wrapper and Retail Store Display Box

All we have at this time is the information that we obtained from The Sport Americana® PRICE GUIDE to the Non-Sports Cards 1930-1960, Vol. 2 by Christopher Benjamin. According to Benjamin, CARD-O Chewing Gum stick wrapper purchasers got one stick of gum and their choice of a card for a penny. The Retail Store Display box shown below came with a lift cover. Each box also contained a stand-up insert panel with the same design as the cover lid. We are not sure which of the many CARD-O series (R112-3, R112-4, R112-12, etc.) used the wrapper and the box show below. Any insight into this would be appreciated.

Albums versus Original Artwork

To the best of our knowledge, Leaf Gum did not issue any companion albums with this series. However, the Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin issued a series of wartime booklets that contained the original artwork used by Leaf Gum for this series. The artwork is spread over at least five of these 3⅟ × 5¾ inch booklets. The artwork was also used in the Tydol UO-1 Aeroplane series, the Spaulding Krullers D87 and DC-6 series, and a similar Cracker Jack series. To date, we know of the following six booklets. There might be more of them out there, but we have not seen them.

CARD-O “Aeroplanes — Series D” Checklist

References

1. Dahlquist, Richard (RIP), Numerous telephone, email, and snail-mail conversations.
2. Shupek, John A., Card images from the Skytamer Archive
3. Kramer, Albert B., Cards scans from the Kramer Collection
4. Kuchta, Vladislav, 2/19/2010 email, Scan of CARD-O Retail Sore Display Box
5. Sheppard, Christopher, 8/4/2008 email, Airplanes of the U.S.A. Booklet scan and information
6. Benjamin, Christopher, The Sport Americana Price Guide to the Non-Sports Cards 1930-1960 No. 2, Edgewater Book Company, Cleveland, Ohio, ISBN 0-937424-66-8, 1993, pp. 40-48.
7. D’Luhosch, Pete, email: (2/10/2014) RE: CARD-O Series ’D’ P-47s

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