Plane Silhouettes on Playing Cards Help Identify Aircraft (Dec, 1942)
Plane Silhouettes on Playing Cards Help Identify Aircraft
Civilians can join in one of the soldier’s favorite pastimes—identifying combat aircraft—with playing cards that have silhouettes of Allied and enemy planes on their faces. The United States planes are spades, British are hearts, German are diamonds, and Japanese are clubs. In the corners are the “pip” signs. The airplane card idea was suggested by officers of the Third Air Corps, Tampa, Fla., who have been conducting classes in aircraft identification.
Only a hop, skip, and a jump to the famous Iraq War mugshot playing cards, eh? I wonder how old this stuff is — does it go back to WWI?
I’ll see your Zero and raise you a Focke-Wulf!
I actually had one of these decks my Dad brought back from his stint in the Merchant Marines.
My father, early in his Air Force career, was involved with the Ground Observer Corps. They used cards like this and larger postcard sized ones. They had bakelite models too, but didn’t give them out.
Wow. I want to see that toboggan-snowmobile thing from the front cover!