1956 “Jets” (R707-1)
Topps Chewing Gum, 240-cards, USA

• Series Title: Jets
• Cartophilic Reference Number: R707-1
• Manufactured by: Topps Chewing Gum
• Number of Cards: 240
• Numbering: 1 to 240
• Card Dimensions: 52 × 75 mm
• Album: “Jets Photo Album”
• Circa: 1956
• Checklist:  Download

Background

The “Jets” series was issued by the Topps Chewing Gum Company during 1956. The use of jet aircraft was fresh in the minds of the American public after the Korean War introduced the first full-scale use of jet propelled aircraft. Capitalizing on the popularity of this new type of aircraft, the Topps Chewing Gum Company issued their 240 card “Jets” set. The actual name of the card series was “Photo Album Jets” which only appeared on the packaging, not the cards. The American card catalog number for the series is R707-1. The cards measure 52 × 75 mm.

The use of the title “Jets” is a bit misleading, since the series includes the entire spectrum of aircraft types, i.e.: fighters, bombers, transport aircraft, utility aircraft, rockets, balloons, blimps, research aircraft, helicopters, flying cars, etc. Propulsion variants include, propellers, jet, rocket, ramjet & helium!

The Topps “Jets” set is divided into two series. The first series (cards 1-120) is known as the “Spotter Series.” The second series (cards 121-240) is known as the “Plane Facts” series. The second series, cards 121 to 240 are twice a difficult to obtain as the first 120 cards.

The card fronts feature black/white aircraft photos with a thin white margin on the left, top, and right sides. The bottom of the card includes the card number, card title (aircraft designation), national origin and aircraft type. The card number (red numbers within a black square) is positioned in the lower left-hand corner of the card. The card title (white) and national origin/aircraft type (black) are printed within a large red panel spanning the bottom of the card. Cards are printed on glossy card stock, and are presented in both horizontal (landscape) and vertical (portrait) formats.

The card backs are all presented in the horizontal (landscape) format. The backs are two-toned, printed with black and light pastel green inks on egg-shell white matte card stock. The backs are divided into two panels. The left panel (35%) is matte egg-shell white, while the right panel (65%) is light pastel green background. The “Jets” logo/card number is located in the upper left-hand corner. The “Aircraft Designation” and “Country/Aircraft Type” are located to the right of the “Jets” logo. The “Descriptive text” covering approximately 50% of the horizontal span, and is located to the left directly beneath the “Jets” logo. The “© T.C.G. Printed in U.S.A.” tag-line is printed in light pastel green beneath the descriptive text. The specifications for the aircraft are presented in a table format spanning the width of the card at the bottom. These data include Speed, Range, Ceiling, etc.

The backs of the first 121 cards are formatted as the “Spotter Series,” which includes a one-card over-lap into the second series. These cards include a single plan view of the subject aircraft along with the series designator Spotter Series is printed with black ink on an egg-shell white rectangle.

The “Plane Facts” series (cards 121-240) is similar to the “Spotter Series.” The plane facts series features an “Action Drawing” with a brief descriptive text directly beneath. The series designator “Plane Facts” is printed with black ink on an egg-shell white square. Note that there is a one-card overlap in the two series. Card 121 is actually a “Spotter Series” card rather than a “Plane Facts” card.

Image-Guide

The following R707-1 “Jets”" Image Guide is divided into the two 120-card series. High resolution 600-dpi images of both the card fronts and card backs are included.

Album

Topps included an album for the series … “Jets Photo Album.” The album contained a total of 24 pages … four cover pages and twenty slotted insert pages. The unprinted slotted insert pages housed six cards per page. There were two versions of the “Jets Photo Album,” one for distribution in the United States, and the other for distribution in Canada. The only difference between the two is the Canadian version containing the following tag-line on the inside back cover: “Distributed in Canada by O-PEE-CHEE CO., LTD., London, Ontario.” Examples of both albums are presented. High resolution 600-dpi images of album pages are behind each thumbnail image.

Wrappers and Display Boxes

Benjamin notes in reference 1, that there were the following three wrappers, and three retail display boxes associated with the “Jet Photo Album” series. At this point, we do not know the colonization of the wrappers and the boxes. Scans of the wrappers and digital photos of the boxes would be appreciated.

• 1-cent “Jets” wrapper
• 5-cent “Jets” wrapper
• 1-cent “Fighting Planes” wrapper.
• 1-cent “Jets” retail display box
• 5-cent “Jets” retail display box
• Album retail display box.

Checklist

We have included the following two versions of the checklist: (1) the web version shown below, and (2) an Adobe^® Acrobat^® PDF 8½ x 11 inch format checklist.

South African “Jets” Issue

During the 1956/57 timeframe, the Kellogg Company located in Johannesburg, Union of South Africa, issued their own version of the Topps "Jets" (R707-1) airplane trading cards.

This is what we currently know and do not know about the set:

• The Kellogg's “Jets” set features the exact same artwork on the card fronts as with the Topps R707-1 set. However, the Kellogg's set has different card numbers. Only the card fronts are numbered.
• The cartophilic reference number is unknown.
• We know that an album was issued for the set.
• We do not know how many cards are in the Kellogg's set.
• We do not know the official name of the set. We are assuming that it is “Jets” as with the Topps R707-1 set, yet this is yet to be confirmed.
• The Kellogg's “Jets” cards are the same size as the Topps R707-1 cards (52 × 75 mm).
• The Kellogg's “Jets” card backs are completely different from the Topps R701-1 set. The card backs are basically generic and presented in both English and Afrikaans. The only text on the card back of the Kellogg's “Jets” version that is the same as the Topps R707-1 set is the specifications information.

Original samples cards #3 (Avro Ashton) and #12 (Sud-Ouest Trident) of the Kellogg's “Jets” are presented below.

Below, we've also included computer enhanced versions of the two cards with direct comparisons to the Topps R707-1 counterpart cards.

Since we know very little about the Kellogg's “Jets” set, except for that it exists, any help you can provide in the form of card scans, checklists, packaging, album information, etc. would certainly be appreciated.

Help!

In addition to the South African cards, we also need your help to complete the Topps R707-1 “Jets” Image Guide. We are currently in need of high resolution, 600-dpi color scans of the three wrappers and the three display boxes. If you can help us fill in any of the blanks, please let us know. Scans of the fronts and backs of the missing cards would be appreciated. Scans of 600 dpi or greater are ideal for our needs. If you are able to help us, we'll acknowledge your contribution at the end of this page. If you have a business, Business card or a website that you would like us to acknowledge, we'll include it. Please email us via “Contact Us”.

Contributors

References

1. Shupek, John. High resolution, 600 dpi color scans of Card Fronts via the Skytamer Archive.
2. Shupek, John. High resolution, 600 dpi color scans of the Card Backs via the Skytamer archive.
3. Kuchta, Vladislav. Low resolution, scans of wrappers and display boxes.
4. Benjamin, Christopher, and Dennis W, Eckes, The Sport Americana 2008 Catalogue of Cigarette and other Trade Cards, Murray Cards (International) Limited, London, England, 2008, ISBN 0-946942-29-3, pp. 68.