140.United Air Lines Menu PostcardsBy far the largest grouping of menu postcards issued by the airlines are those from United Air Lines. I believe they began in 1939. The earliest ones are a slightly larger card measuring 3-1/2" x 6". I believe they changed to the standard postcard size of 3-1/2" x 5-1/2" in 1949. The last dated card I've seen is a Halloween card dated 1964. If you collected these by meal you would end up with over a thousand different postcards. The later cards most often list the place where the meals were prepared, and often the chef. The most common cards are the chrome era cards showing a photo on one half of the card and the menu on the other half. There are 24 different photos used on that series and 27 cities I've seen where the meals were prepared. I don't think any of the photo types come with all the cities. The one that comes close is the Fishing Fleet, Gloucester Harbor, MA. I've only found one of the half photo series with no city or chef mentioned. Since the United menu postcards finished in the early 1960's I've included those cards also. There are a number of cards I do not have. I'll add them as I acquire new ones.
