Zoom Airplane Pictures Series 1, R177-1, Gum Products, Airplane Cards, WWII

1940-41 ZOOM Airplane Pictures, Series 1 (R177-1)
Gum Products Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Series Title: ZOOM Airplane Pictures, Series 1
ACC No.: R177-1
Manufactured by: Gum Products, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Number of Cards: 75
Card Dimensions: 2.54 × 3.04 inches (nominal measured)
Circa: 1940 and 1941
Checklist: Download

Overview

During the early 1940s, Gum Products, Inc., Cambridge, MA. issued a series of three ZOOM Airplane Pictures trade card sets. These three sets are extremely challenging to collect. Overall there are 175 card images, and 775 cards associated with the ZOOM Airplanes Pictures sets. The ZOOM Airplanes Pictures series is divided into the following three subsets.

Series 1 — 75 cards, white borders, skip-numbered from 1 to 100
Series 2 — 50 card images, 4 border colors, 200 cards total, skip-numbered from 1 to 100. Same aircraft images as used in Series 1.
Series 3 — 100 card images, 5 border colors, 500 cards total, numbered from 101 to 200.

ZOOM Airplane Pictures, Series 1 is comprised of only 75 cards. The cards are skip-numbered from 1 to 100. The borders of the cards are white and the images are brown sepia. The reverse side of the cards are blank. The skip-numbering feature of this series has caused most amateur collectors a certain degree of frustration since they were always hunting for 25 missing cards. This was obviously a marketing ploy by Gum Products, Inc. to promote sales of the cards. A sample card is shown below.

Image-Guide

Card 7 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 10 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 13 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 17 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 21 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 26 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 30 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 33 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 38 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 40 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 42 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 45 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 53 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 55 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 61 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 63 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 67 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 74 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 78 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 81 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 83 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 88 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 91 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 95 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Card 97 - This card was Skip-Numbered and therefore NOT ISSUED

Checklist

Zoom Airplanes, Series 1 (R177-1) Gum Products, United States, 75-cards CHECKLIST
x	Card №	Card Title
	1	Curtiss P-40
	2	Bell XFM-1
	3	Lockheed XC-35
	4	Douglas TBD-1
	5	Grumman F3F-1
	6	Canadian Fairey Battle Bomber
n/a	7	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	8	Republic YP-43
	9	Northrop A-17A
n/a	10	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	11	Bristol Bolingbroke Bomber
	12	Vought-Sikorsky OS2U-2
n/a	13	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	14	Seversky P-35
	15	Consolidated XPB2Y-1
	16	Westland Lysander II
n/a	17	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	18	Lockheed P-38
	19	North American SNJ-2
	20	Curtiss A-18
n/a	21	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	22	Douglas A-20A
	23	Grumman F4F-3
	24	Grumman F2F-1
	25	Republic Guardsman 2-PA
n/a	26	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	27	Douglas Digby B-18A
	28	Curtiss XSO3C-1
	29	Douglas SBD-1
n/a	30	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	31	Curtiss P-36A
	32	Avro Anson Trainer
n/a	33	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	34	North American BT-9
	35	Consolidated XPB2Y-1
	36	Curtiss P-36
	37	Vultee YA-19
n/a	38	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	39	Martin B-26
n/a	40	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	41	Cessna AT-8
n/a	42	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	43	Vought-Sikorsky SB2U-1
	44	North American AT-6A
n/a	45	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	46	Stearman N2S-1
	47	Consolidated PBY-1
	48	Curtiss SBC-4
	49	Boeing XB-15
	50	Curtiss A-12
	51	Curtiss-Wright
	52	Lockheed P-38
n/a	53	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	54	North American B-25
n/a	55	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	56	North American BT-14
	57	Ryan S-T
	58	British Sunderland
	59	Northrop N-3PB
	60	Lockheed
n/a	61	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	62	Lockheed B-14
n/a	63	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	64	Randolph Field
	65	Douglas 8A-5
	66	Grumman Goose
n/a	67	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	68	Lockheed P-38
	69	Bell Airacobra
	70	Consolidated XB-24
	71	Douglas DB-7A
	72	Douglas B-18-A
	73	Curtiss Falcon 22
n/a	74	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	75	Stearman NS-1
	76	Vought-Sikorsky XF4U-1
	77	Consolidated Model 32
n/a	78	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	79	Stearman PT-13B
	80	Boeing Stratoliner
n/a	81	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	82	Cessna Crane T-50
n/a	83	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	84	Curtiss XSO3C-1
	85	Grumman J2F-2
	86	Grumman Skyrocket
	87	Douglas B-19
n/a	88	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	89	Bellanca Flash
	90	North American Harvard II
	92	Brewster F2A2 (sic)
n/a	91	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
n/a	92	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	93	Bellanca Cargo Aircruiser
	94	Curtiss-Wright
n/a	95	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	96	Consolidated PBY-5
n/a	97	Skip-Numbered and NOT ISSUED
	98	Grumman G-36A
	99	Vultee
	100	Republic P-35
ZOOM Airplane Series Album & Wrappers
	n/a	ZOOM Airplane Pictures Album
	n/a	ZOOM Bubble Gum Wrapper (Four-Engine Bomber)
	n/a	ZOOM Bubble Gum Wrapper with 1¢ (Fighter)
	n/a	ZOOM Bubble Gum Wrapper no 1¢ (Fighter)

Album

Gum Products, Inc. also issued a Zoom Airplane Pictures premium album that just added to the mystique and frustration of the collectors buy only showing 72 of the 75 cards featured in the ZOOM Airplanes Series 1 in the album. These albums are very rare and command a premium price. The ZOOM Airplane Pictures album is shown below.

Bubble Gum Wrappers

There appears to be three wrappers variations associated with the ZOOM Airplanes series. The first has a red, white and blue center with six airplanes Zooming in the top panel. It does not have a copyright date printed on it and was probably used for the first series of 75 cards.

The second wrapper has a different design in the center, which is orange with green accents. It bears a copyright date of 1941 and has two different mail offers printed on the top and bottom panels. The top offer is for a 12-page album containing photographs of 72 of the finest and best airplanes in the world (25 Zoom wrappers plus 10 cents). The promotion on the bottom pane offered a choice of any two large (9½ × 12½ inch) airplane pictures, plus a surprise, also for 25 Zoom wrappers and 10 cents. Because this second wrapper advertises a New Series, collectors believe it was used to market the 101-200 sequence of cards.

ZOOM Airplanes Wrapper 2 with Dec. 31, 1941 offer expiration date

The third wrapper is a variation of the 1941 wrapper show above, without the price information. This variation also has an offer expiration date of Dec. 31, 1942 rather than the 1941 expiration date shown on the Wrapper 2 design. All of the other features of the wrapper appear to be the same as the Wrapper 2 design.

ZOOM Airplanes Wrapper 3 without the price information

VERY LARGE FILE. This one takes some time to download!

References

John A. Shupek: Card images via the Skytamer Archive Digital Image Database.
Albert B. (Al) Kramer: Card images via the Kramer Non-Sports Trade Card Collection.
Richard Dick R. Dahlquist: Research and technical support.