Britain’s pioneering role in
conquering the air and as the world leader in most of the major advances in
aerial technology are recalled in a superb series of cards produced by Imperial
Tobacco and issued with Castella Cigars in 1994 to mark the 60th anniversary of
the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden Aerodrome in Cambridgeshire, where
many of the aircraft pictured in the set are housed. From the flight of the
first successful all-British aeroplane in 1909, through World War I, the
record-breaking flights of the 1920s and ‘30s, the Hurricane, Spitfire,
Mosquito and Lancaster of World War II, Frank Whittle’s jet engine’s
giant leap forward in propulsion with the Meteor (the Allies first operational
jet aircraft), the Comet (the world’s first pure jet airliner) and
Concorde (the first supersonic airliner), the series takes us to the Gulf War
with Scud-Hunting Tornadoes and their VC-10 refueling tankers. As John Dunn,
Imperial’s cigar supreme who was responsible for initiating the card
series, said at the time of issue “all the pictures benefit from the
latest reproduction techniques and we went to great lengths to ensure the
highest quality”. See for yourself with this set which is well worth
adding to your collection. This set of 30 cards in mint condition is available
at £36.
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