Bicycle Flight playing cards
Bicycle Flight ‘Airplane’ and ‘Airship’ playing cards, homage to aviation, 2014.
This is actually a pair of packs, one called “The Airplane deck” (in blue) and the second “The Airship deck” (in red). Both serve as an homage to aviation from the earliest days to the 1930s—a time defined by travel, art deco style and the spirit of adventure. The packs were printed in 2014 by the United States Playing Card Company. See the boxes►
The court cards portraying 12 legendary aviators are repeated in the two decks – in blue tones for the Airplane Playing Cards and in red tones for the Airship Playing Cards. Both packs have 4 unique aces based on airplanes or airships, depending on the pack.
Each deck features 2 unique jokers with imagery from ancient myths about flight. The Airplane pack features two jokers from Greek mythology (Icarus and Phaethon) and the Airship pack features two jokers from Norse mythology (Valkyrie and Huginn & Muninn).
The Airplane deck
Above: the Airplane deck from Bicycle Flight playing cards printed by the United States Playing Card Company, USA, 2014.
The Airship deck
Above: the Airship deck from Bicycle Flight playing cards printed by the United States Playing Card Company, USA, 2014.
By Peter Burnett
United Kingdom • Member since July 27, 2022
I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.
Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.
Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.
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