Modern American Airplanes (50) Wings Cigarettes (T87) USA

1940 Modern American Airplanes (T87)
Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, Louisville Kentucky, USA

Title: Modern American Airplanes
American Card Catalog Number: T87
Issued by: Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, Louisville Kentucky, USA
Packaged with: Wings Cigarettes
No. of Cards: 51 (1 error card)
Numbering: 1 to 50
Dimensions: 2^1/2 × 1^25/32
Circa: 1940

Skytamer Note

This tiny T87 card set, has some of the highest quality artwork that we have ever seen on any of the Airplane Trade Card sets.

Overview

During the early years of World War II, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation of Louisville, Kentucky issued four 50-card series of airplane collector cards. The cards were packed with WINGS Cigarettes and were commonly referred to as Wings Cigarette Cards rather than their actual series titles. The fronts of the cards featured artwork of an Official Photograph of an aircraft. The reverse of the cards included a brief narrative about the aircraft, the aircraft name, card number, and advertising copy. The overall American Card Catalog Number for this series is T87. The following subsets were included in the series.

T87: Modern American Airplanes. This subset has 51 cards, which includes the #34 Sparton Executive nerror card. This subset is commonly known as the No Letter Series.
T87A: Modern American Airplanes, Series A. This 50-card subset used the same artwork as the T87 No Letter Series and corrected the #34 typo card.
T-87B: Modern Airplanes, Series B.. This 50-card subset included American, Canadian and British aircraft.
T87C: Modern Airplanes, Series C. This final 50-card subset included American, Norwegian, Canadian, British, and Cuban aircraft.

The T87 No Letter Series contained one error card (shown below) which was later corrected within the subset. Card № 34 was originally misspelled as SPARTON and later corrected to SPARTAN. Examples of the two cards are shown below.

No Letter Card № 34 Sparton (sic) Executive (error card) Front

No Letter Card № 34 Sparton (sic) Executive (error card) Back

No Letter Card № 34 Spartan Executive (corrected card) Front

No Letter Card № 34 Spartan Executive (correctrd card) Back

Image-Guide

1940 Wings - Modern American Airplanes (T87) Wings Cigarettes, 50 Airplane Cards ORIGINAL SCANS
1 1b	2 2b	3 3b	4 4b	5 5b	6 6b	7 7b	8 8b	9 9b	10 10b	11 11b	12 12b	13 13b	14 14b	15 15b	16 16b	17 17b	18 18b	19 19b	20 20b	21 21b	22 22b	23 23b	24 24b	25 25b
26 26b	27 27b	28 28b	29 29b	30 30b	31 31b	32 32b	33 33b	34 34b 34e 34eb	35 35b	36 36b	37 37b	38 38b	39 39b	40 40b	41 41b	42 2b	43 43b	44 44b	45 45b	46 46b	47 47b	48 48b	49 49b	50 50b

Album

The following Album of Modern American Airplanes, Wings Airplanes, Series A is one of three albums that was issued by the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation during the 1940-1942 time-frame to accommodate their four 50-card sets of Wings Cigarettes Airplane Cards (T87, T87A, T87B & T87C) series. This particular album is applicable to both the Wings - Modern American Airplanes, NL Series and the Wings - Modern American Airplanes, Series A since both the № 34 Sparton Executive (error card) and the № 34 Spartan Executive (corrected spelling ) both appeared in the original T87 No Letter Series.

Checklist

1940 Wings - Modern American Airplanes - No Letter Series (T87) Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation via Wings Cigarettes, 51-Cards, United States T87 CHECKLIST
Card №	x	Card Front Title	Card Back Title	Comments
1		U.S. Army Pursuit Interceptor	Pursuit Interceptor	Bell P-39 Airacobra
2		U.S. Army Attack Bomber	Attack Bomber	Bell YFM-1 Airacuda
3		U.S. Army Bomber	Bomber	Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
4		U.S. Army Pursuit	Pursuit	Vultee Vanguard 61
5		U.S. Army Pursuit	Pursuit	Curtiss-Wright P-40
6		U.S. Army Pursuit	pursuit	Curtiss P-37 Pursuit Plane
7		U.S. Army Standard Bomber	Standard Bomber	Douglas B-18A Bomber
8		U.S. Army Attack Bomber	Attack Bomber	Martin 167W
9		U.S. Army Observation	Observation	North American O-47
10		U.S. Army Pursuit	Pursuit	Republic P-41
11		U.S. Army Standard Trainer	Standard Trainer	Stearman PT-13A, Model A75L3
12		U.S. Army Attack Bomber	Attack Bomber	Stearman X-100
13		U.S. Army Standard Pursuit	Standard Pursuit	Curtiss P-36A
14		U.S. Army Attack Bomber	Attack Bomber	Vultee A-19
15		U.S. Navy Fighter	Fighter	Brewster F2A-1 Fighter
16		U.S. Navy Patrol Bomber	Patrol Bomber	Consolidated PBY
17		U.S. Navy Patrol Bomber	Patrol Bomber	Consolidated PB2Y-1
18		U.S. Navy Scout Bomber	Stealth Bomber	Curtiss SBC-4
19		U.S. Navy Torpedo Bomber	Torpedo Bomber	Douglas TBD-1
20		U.S. Marine Corps Fighter	Fighter	Grumman F3F-2
21		U.S. Navy Fighter	Fighter	Grumman F4F-2
22		U.S. Navy Transport	Transport	Sikorsky S-43
23		U.S. Navy Scout Bomber	Scout Bomber	Vought-Sikorsky SBU-1 Scout Bomber
24		U.S. Navy Scout Bomber	Scout Bomber	Vought-Sikorsky SB2U-1
25		U.S. Navy Observation Scout	Observation Scout	Vought-Sikorsky OS2U-1
26		Aeronca Model LA	Aeronca Model LA	Light aircraft and trainer
27		Cessna Airmaster	Cessna Airmaster	Single-engine 4-seat monoplane
28		Dart Model G	Dart Model G	Two-place side-by-side sport trainer.
29		Fairchild Model 24	Fairchild Model 24	Four-place family air sedan
30		Fleetwings Sea Bird	Fleetwings Sea Bird	Single-engine 4-passenger stainless steel amphibian
31		Beechcraft Model D17	Beechcraft D 17	Known as the Staggerwing
32		Piper Cub Coupe	Piper Cub Coupe	Single-engine high-wing side-by-side coupe monoplane.
33		Rearwin Cloudster	Rearwin Cloudster	Single-engine 2/3-place high-wing cabin monoplane.
34e		Sparton Executive	Sparton Executive	ERROR CARD Sparton (sic)
34		Spartan Executive	Spartan Executive	CORRECTED CARD
35		Stinson Reliant	Stinson Reliant	Single-engine 5-place high-wing cabin monoplane.
36		Stinson Model 105	Stinson Model 105	Single-engine high-wing cabin monoplane.
37		Waco Model N	Waco Model M	Single-engine staggered wing cabin biplane with tricycle landing gear.
38		American Airlines Flagship	American Flagship	Douglas DC-3 Twin-engine low-wing cabin monoplane transport/passenger aircraft.
39		Pan American Clipper	P.A.A. Clipper	Boeing’s Clipper four-engine high-wing transoceanic 74 passenger flying boat.
40		Pan American Flying Cloud	P.A.A. Flying Cloud	Boeing Strato-Clipper, four-engine low-wing, pressurized cabin passengers/transport aircraft.
41		T.W.A. Sky Chief	T.W.A. Sky Chief	Douglas DC-3, Twin-engine, low-wing, 21 passenger airliner.
42		United Air Lines Mainliner	United Mainliner	Douglas DC-3, Twin-engine, low-wing, airliner.
43		Abrams Explorer	Abrams Explorer	Single-engine pusher, mid-wing, twin boom tail, fixed tricycle landing gear, aerial survey and reconnaissance aircraft.
44		Beechcraft Model 18	Beechcraft Model 18	Twin-engine, low-wing, twin-tail airline feeder aircraft.
45		Bellanca Aircruiser	Bellanca Aircruiser	Single-engine, braced high-wing float-plane transport cargo Aircraft.
46		Douglas Model DC5	Douglas Model DC5	Twin-engine high-wing 16-passenger airliner/transport with tricycle landing gear.
47		Grumman Model G-21	Grumman Model G-21	Twin-engine high-wing passenger amphibian.
48		Seversky Amphibian	Seversky Amphibian	Single-engine low-wing twin-floats Thompson Trophy racer
49		Stearman Hammond Safety Plane	Safety Plane	Single-engine pusher, low-wing, twin boom tail, fixed tricycle landing gear, cabin monoplane safety test aircraft.
50		Kellett Autogiro	Kellett Autogiro	Single-engine, single-seat, cabin autogiro observation aircraft.
		Album of Modern American Airplanes, Wings Airplanes Series A
		Manila Shipping Envelope (4 × 23 inches); Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.
		Wings Cigarettes Pack or Wrapper

Special Thanks

A very special thanks to Ken Olsson from the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM) in Hood River, Oregon, for sending us the following information about the corrected card #34 Spartan Executive in the Wings - Modern American Airplanes, No Letters Series" (T87). Up to this date, we had no proof that a corrected version of card #34 existed in the T87 No Letter Series. Ken’s email, dated 26 September 2009 confirms that there are 51 cards, rather than 50 in this set. Ken’s front and back scans of the corrected card #34 are included below.

References

John A. Shupek: Modern American Airplanes (50) Wings Cigarettes (T87) US, Card and Album images via the Skytamer Archive digital image database>
Ken Olson: Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM) in Hood River, Oregon. Card #34 Spartan/Sparton scans.