Vintage Card Of The Month: 1933-34 National Chicle Skybirds Manfred von Richthofen

This month’s VCoM comes straight from my Top 10 Want list. A 1933-34 National Chicle Skybirds Baron Manfred von Richthofen, who was also known as the Red Baron. This set is a bit of a pain because half of the cards were released in 1933 and the other half in 1934 yet all of the cards are listed with a copyright of 1933 so some people tend to get confused about their issue date.

Ever since I watched Snoopy take on the Red Baron when I was a kid I have been interested in Richthofen. Manfred was the top ace of WWI with 80 victories, doubling up his brother Lothar, and was the #1 target of Allied flyers. What most people don’t know is that he actually started as a cavalry officer but became enamored with aeroplanes and realized that the cavalry was a dying occupation so he requested a transfer to the Air Service in mid-1915.

The write-up on the back is interesting, it makes it seem as if Richthofen was a mindless killer saying that he killed 100 men by shooting them, burning them and crushing them. He wasn’t a sociopath, he was actually quite brilliant and a great tactician.

The back also errantly lists that Canadian pilot Captain Roy Brown was the person who downed the Red Baron when in fact it is now believed that he was actually shot by one of three machine gunners (Sgt. Cedric Popkin, Gunner W.J. Evans or Gunner Robert Buie) with the Royal Australian Artillery. He was also alive when he landed the plane behind the Australian lines and remained alive long enough to talk before succumbing to a chest wound. Though I guess the truth of being shot down by an anonymous gunner and landing safely isn’t as glorified as National Chicle’s version.

The card is in beautiful condition, still solid cardboard that has held its shape. The colors have muted a bit, the corners are rounded and there are two thumbtack holes (top left and bottom right) but condition-wise it is my best card of the three National Chicle Skybird cards that I have in my collection. I would love to eventually add a better graded copy with brighter colors to my collection to replace this one. 

Vintage Card Of The Month: 1933 National Chicle Sky Birds Quentin Roosevelt

 

This month’s VCoM comes from the 1933 National Chicle Sky Birds (R136) release. The Sky Birds set is one of my favorite vintage sets because many of the pilots included are from WWI, one of my historical interests. Some of the pilots on the list; Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron), Eddie Rickenbacker (America’s first Ace), Charles Lindberg and Amelia Earhart. 

This specific card was one of my Grey Whale wants because it is Quentin Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt’s son. After the U.S. entered WWI in 1917 all four of Teddy Roosevelt’s sons joined the military with all four seeing combat. Quentin was a pilot in the 95^th Aero Squadron and on July 14, 1918 he was shot down over German held territory.

He was so highly regarded by the Germans that he was buried with full military honors. Following WWII when the Normandy American Cemetery was established in France Quentin’s remains were moved to the cemetery and reinterred next to his brother Teddy Roosevelt III, who died in France in 1944.

The card is in nice condition, besides the rounded corners with some paper separation it is a nice specimen. For some reason the illustrator shows Quentin as a gunner but he was in fact a pilot.

Vintage Card Of The Month: 1934 R136 National Chicle Sky Birds Amelia Earhart

Recently I included a 1933 National Chicle Sky Birds Immelmann card as the VCoM, this month I am covering the Sky Birds set once again. This month’s VCoM comes from the 1934 National Chicle Sky Birds set, Amelia Earhart.

 

The Sky Birds set was a skip numbered continuous set inserted in to packs of National Chicle Gum over multiple years. In 1933 cards #1-24 cards were released and in 1934 cards #25-108 were released. It is possible that the company planned on inserting the remaining cards, #109-144, in to packs of gum in 1935 but the company was beginning to have money problems around this time so they probably cut production of the cards to save money, the company eventually went bankrupt in 1937.

 

There are three cards on the checklist that are targeted by collectors of the set; Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart and Manfred von Richthofen (The Red Baron). All three cards are pretty rare though Charles Lindbergh seems to show up more than the other two plus he has cards in other vintage and modern sets.

 

Earhart has been in the news recently when investigators and archeologists have come to the almost certainty that Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan did not crash in to the Pacific Ocean as originally thought during her attempt to fly around the world in 1937 but instead landed near an atoll named Nikumaroro in the Phoenix Islands where they eventually died as castaways. This had been a theory for years after human bones and tools were found but an aluminum piece found in 1991 on the island was finally connected to her plane earlier this year. The piece matches a piece of aluminum used to patch her plane while she was in Miami in May of 1937.

 

When it comes to vintage cards you have to make the decision when you have a card in your sights, you either buy a card of any grade to add it to your collection or you pay big money to own a better condition/graded card.  When it comes to cards like this I would rather have a specific card in my collection and not worry about its condition. I can always add a better graded version later. This card cost me a whopping $6.05 shipped, so I am not going to complain. This card looks like it may have seen some time in the spokes of someone’s bike.

 

Vintage Card Of The Month: 1933 R136 National Chicle Sky Birds

This month’s VCoM comes from National Chicle’s Sky Birds set, which were inserted in to packs of National Chicle Gum, and is designated as R136 1933 National Chicle Sky Birds. The company went bankrupt before the end of the 1930s but between 1933 and 1936 (I know, not a long time) they produced some of the most desired cards of the decade both in sports and non-sports releases. The Sky Birds set was brought back to life by Goudey Gum in 1941 but that set was built around the planes only, no pilots were included.

 

The Sky Birds set was a multi-year continuous skip number set, the checklist states there are 144 cards in the release but there are actually only 108 cards. I am not sure if they did this intentionally or if they planned to release another year with the remaining 36 cards but canceled production once they started having money troubles. In 1933 cards 1-24 were released and in 1934 cards 25-108 were released.

 

The set was designed around famous pilots plus 25 planes. Some of the pilots on the checklist; Eddie Rickenbacker (America’s first Ace in WWI), Orville Wright and Roy Brown (The man “officially” credited with shooting down the Red Baron though often debated) Some of the planes on the checklist; Sopwith Camel (the plane made famous by Snoopy in his battle with the Red Baron) and the Spirit of Saint Louis.

I have been a World War I history buff for most of my life so I was drawn to the connection with this set. I picked up this Max Immelmann (It is misspelled on the card front but correctly on the card back) because of his historical significance. He is best known for the Immelmann Turn, a turning maneuver he designed so he could immediately change positions to attack another victim after shooting down an enemy aircraft. It is no longer used as a combat maneuver but it is still used by jet pilots today so they can make tactical turns at high speed.

 

Additionally, Immelmann was Germany’s first ace and was credited with 15 victories before his death in June 1916. He was the first German pilot to ever be awarded the Pour le Merite, Germany’s highest military honor. The award has since been known as the Blue Max Cross in his honor. He is actually shown wearing the Blue Max Cross in this illustration.

 

The card is seriously distressed, there are creases, bends and it is peeling around the edges. It actually looks like a small animal took a bite out of the top right corner. It is pure ugly, but a beautiful ugly. There is a personality to cards this damaged.