1939 Gum Inc World in Arms trading cards are divided into six different categories: Airplanes, Ships, Iron Cavalry, Field Artillery, Fortifications, and Miscellaneous. With each division, the numbering sequence starts from “1” but the final checklist weighs in at 48 cards.
Each card front features an original art piece of a famous war machine from the various armies of the world with the reverse of the cards explaining the depiction on the front. Several images from this set were recycled for other sets that followed including 10 which appeared in a Rand McNally book about the American military.
According to sample cards distributed in other Gum Inc products, the intention was for this set to be 120 cards but as often happened (as it did the following year with 1940 Lone Ranger), the set size was reduced before production. Unlike Lone Ranger, though, it does not appear that Charles Steinbacher completed artwork for the original checklist and these 48 images are all that are known from this series.
Our checklist includes all of the cards released in this series. Promo cards are available with a red stamp over the back card text.
1939 Gum Inc World in Arms Checklist
Base Set – 48 Cards
| # | Card Subject |
|---|---|
| Airplanes 1 | United States “Flying Fortress” |
| Airplanes 2 | German Junkers Bomber |
| Airplanes 3 | Italian Breda Fighters |
| Airplanes 4 | British Mayo Composite “Pick-a-back” Plane |
| Airplanes 5 | Spanish Loring Reconnaissance Ship |
| Airplanes 6 | Czechoslovakian Avia Fighter |
| Airplanes 7 | Swedish Junkers Bomber |
| Airplanes 8 | Royal Canadian Air Force Vickers “Vedette” |
| Airplanes 9 | United States “DC-4” |
| Airplanes 10 | Belgian Multi-seat “GR-8” Fighter |
| Airplanes 11 | Irish Avro Anson Reconnaissance Plane |
| Airplanes 12 | Russian Mystery Single-seat Fighter |
| Airplanes 13 | French Torpedo Planes Escorting Giant Letecoere |
| Airplanes 14 | Latvian Two-seater Reconnaissance Ship |
| Airplanes 15 | Australian “Wirraway” All-purpose Ship |
| Airplanes 16 | Dutch Fokker “D-21” Fighter |
| Field Artillery 1 | United States 3-inch Anti-aircraft Gun |
| Field Artillery 2 | United States 77mm. Field Gun |
| Field Artillery 3 | United States 75mm. Howitzer |
| Field Artillery 4 | United States .30-Caliber Heavy Machine Gun |
| Fortifications 1 | U.S. Quick-firing Rail-mounted Coast Gun |
| Fortifications 2 | Guns of the Maginot Line in Action |
| Fortifications 3 | Heligoland |
| Fortifications 4 | The Mareth Line |
| Iron Cavalry 1 | United States Armored Scout Car |
| Iron Cavalry 2 | United States High-speed Tank |
| Iron Cavalry 3 | Italian Flame-throwing Tank |
| Iron Cavalry 4 | Japanese Scout Motorcycle |
| Miscellaneous 1 | Italian Flame Throwers |
| Miscellaneous 2 | British Death-dealing Balloon Barrage |
| Miscellaneous 3 | Landing Russian “Air Infantry” |
| Miscellaneous 4 | The New Garand Automatic Rifle |
| Miscellaneous 5 | British Portable Steel Air Raid Shelter |
| Miscellaneous 6 | Gas Raid Rescue Squad |
| Miscellaneous 7 | Stream of Torpedoes |
| Miscellaneous 8 | Devastating Martin-Barlow Aerial Bomb |
| Ships 1 | United States Battleship “Mississippi” |
| Ships 2 | French Battleship “Dunkerque” |
| Ships 3 | British Fifteen-ton “Hornet,” Torpedo Boat |
| Ships 4 | Japanese Destroyer “Fubuki” Sinking Junk |
| Ships 5 | Italian Cruiser “Zara” |
| Ships 6 | New German Submarine |
| Ships 7 | United States Heavy Cruiser “Indianapolis” |
| Ships 8 | Spanish Nationalist Cruiser “Canarias” |
| Ships 9 | German Motor Torpedo Boat |
| Ships 10 | Japanese Aircraft Carrier “Akagi” |
| Ships 11 | British Battleship “Rodney” |
| Ships 12 | Italian M.A.S. Boat |