1956-57 “Jet Aircraft of the World”
R.L. Jones & Co., Ltd., 24-cards, England

• Series Title: Jet Aircraft of the World
• Issued by: R.L. Jones & Co., Ltd.
• Issued with: Sunecta Glucose Drink
• Country: England
• Number of Cards: 24
• Card Numbering: 1-24
• Type of Card: Soft Drink
• Card Dimensions: 2.64 × 1.38 inches (67.0 × 35.0 mm)
• Circa: 1956-57
• Album: Yesprovide any
• Checklist: Download Checklist

Overview — A Little History About R.L. Jones & Co., Ltd. and Sunecta Glucose Drink ¹

Located near Sherwood Forest, Mansfield, England was originally the home of the Mansfield Brewery, once the largest independent brewer in the United Kingdom. Mansfield also had an old-established soft-drinks manufacturer, R.L. Jones, with brand names of Sunecta and Mandora, which were acquired by Mansfield Brewery in 1977. The soft-drink operations moved to a modern factory at Bellamy Road in 1975. Mansfield Brewery subsequently sold the business to Scottish drinks company A. G. Barr, Plc., producer of Irn-Bru, Tizer and Mandora in 1988.

1956-57 “Jet Aircraft of the World” Overview ^2,3

Although commonly referred to as a 1957 issue, the “Jet Aircraft of the World” 24-airplane card trade set was mentioned in the 14 December 1956 issue of Flight Magazine as follows:

“Spotters' Album

A SET of 24 coloured cards depicting and briefly describing current types of jet aircraft of all nationalities has been produced for R. L. Jones and Co., Ltd., of Mansfield, Notts, makers of Sunecta glucose drink. A card is included with each bottle and an album is available for the whole series. The drawings, by R. Ward, are accurate representations.” ²

Richard Ward (1916-1993) was a self-taught landscape artist in watercolor & painter of windmills, Kachina dolls, wildlife and transport. He produced artwork for the Brook Bond tea picture card series, aircraft illustrations for the ‘Profiles’ series of magazines and cards for Noel Tatt. Richard Ward served in World War II in the RAF. He lived in Grantham, Lincs and then Whitstable, Kent in the mid-1980s. Richard Ward died on 9/3/1993. ³

During 1956-57, R.L. Jones & Co., Ltd. issued a 24-card set of “Jet Aircraft of the World” soft drink trading cards that were issued with Sunecta Glucose Drink. The cards measure 2.64 × 1.38 inches (67.0 × 35.0 mm). The fronts of the 1956-57 “Jet Aircraft of the World” cards feature attractive landscape (horizontal) color artwork jet aircraft in the air. In-flight artwork of aircraft from the United Kingdom, United States, and the USSR are featured. The image area is surrounded by a thin black rectangular border with an off-white external (Hex=#FFFFFD) margin. The fronts of the cards contain the name of the host series, i.e. “SUNECTA GLUCOSE” located in either the top-left or top-right of the image area. The card title, i.e. “ENGLISH ELECTRIC ‘CANBERRA’ B-8 is located in the lower portion of the image area. The front of the card does not contain the card number.

The light tan (Hex=#FAEAD0) Backs of the cards cards are printed with a medium-gray (Hex="9D9686) ink and presented in a portrait (vertical) format with a vertical stack of the following seven elements:

1. Album notice: “Albums to contain this series of 24 for sale at more shops.”
2. Series title: “JET AIRCRAFT OF THE WORLD” centered on a gray band.
3. Card number: i.e. “1”
4. Card title: i.e. “English Electric ‘Canberra’ B-8”
5. Aircraft function: i.e. “ 2-SEAT LONG-RANGE INTERDICTOR”
6. Descriptive text: i.e. “The first jet bomber …” followed by a divider line.
7. Advertising text: Issued by the makers of SUNECTA GLUCOSE DRINK R.L. JONES & CO., LTD., MANSFIELD, NOTTS”

The above reference card shows the fronts and Backs of a typical 1956-57 “Jet Aircraft of the World” card. Click on the card images to reveal full-size computer enhanced 600-dpi images of the card.

1956-57 R.L. Jones & Co., Ltd. “Jet Aircraft of the World” (1956G10) Image-Guide ⁴

The following 1956-57 “Jet Aircraft of the World” 24-card set by R.L. Jones & Co., Ltd., England, Image-Guide shows computer enhanced images of the fronts and Backs of the 24 cards in the set. Behind each thumbnail image is a 600-dpi computer enhanced card image that you may access. In addition, directly beneath the Image Guide, in tabular form, are links to the original scans used for this series.

1956-57 “Jet Aircraft of the World Album” ?

Although a “Jet Aircraft of the World Album” has been mentioned several times in this article, we have yet to see an actual “Jet Aircraft of the World Album” and therefore cannot provide any images of the album. If you have first-hand knowledge of this album, we would appreciate your inputs.

1956-57 “Jet Aircraft of the World” Checklist ⁴

We have provide two versions of the 1956-57 “Jet Aircraft of the World” 24-card set issued by R.L. Jones & Co., Ltd., England. An 8½ × 11 inch PDF version, and the web version shown below. Click on the PDF graphic below to access the PDF version.

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, Mansfield
2. "Spotters' Album." Flight Magazine 14 December 1956: 920. Print.
3. "The Traveling Art Gallery." Richard Ward
4. Shupek, John A. "Jet Aircraft of the World, 1956, R.L. Jones & Co., Ltd.." The Skytamer Archive (600-dpi Image Scans). Skytamer Images, Whittier, CA, 2014. Digital Image Database.