Old Airplane Toys

Sunday, November 3, 2012
   Cold & Rainy - Winter is Coming!

Old Airplane Toys

Introduction - Chapter 1 

   

 I never know what I'm going to write until I start collecting photos. Once again, I have to thank The Strong for allowing me to use their fine collection.

    I thought that I'd write about the earlier airplane toys from the 1920's-1940's, since those are the era's that I've always written about and bought and sold on E-Bay. As I was gathering my "collection" for today, I found my main point for today, which is how "time marches on". I like to use those old expressions, and today is no different.

   Before I get to my main theme, I'll talk briefly about my mother-in -law Lorna. She just made that big step into one of those modern apartment buildings with autonomous living. That's where older people (like I'm almost 64) go when they feel they need to. In Lorna's case, she finally had to, since she has a serious visual syndrome called macular degeneration. There are 2 kinds of this problem - wet and dry, and she has the "bad one", which I can't remember. Here eyesight has deteriorated over the last 4 years, and is getting worse. As such, she gave up driving, has a special phone with large type and numbers, and barely sees TV. The centre of the eye loses its sight, and only the edges (peripheral vision) can be seen.  I went to visit her today, and she had a telephone problem. Living here in Quebec, Canada - a French province, her problem was that her answering service (part of a "package deal") was only talking in French. Her daughter had to phone for her, and it took 1 hour to finally get a technician who know how to solve the problem! Of course, you have to press the keypad on the phone  in succession to change to English, then you have to press a code to access the messages, then another to enter the password, and so on. She was "frustrated" by all of the new technology!

Chapter 2    

  For myself, I don't own a cellphone since my wife says I don't speak to enough people to need one!

Thank you Heidi!. Also, I just purchased a used Sharp "air purifier".  I purchased this one after doing research and found it to be one of the best. It retails for $ 350.00 ++ Canadian, but the Kijiji lister was selling it for $ 150.00. If anyone wants to know why I bought this one, please e-mail me. 

I had to go about 25 km (16 miles) to a city near me to pick up the "air purifier", where I never go. I tried MapQuest, which couldn't find the address location, and then I used Google maps - that worked!

  However, I live in Quebec, and here the province likes to do things their own way! So, instead of signs every 1/2 mile (.6 km) like in the USA, with approaching exit signs every 100 yards (90 meters), we have 1 lousy sign 3 miles before the exit. Of course, there are 7 other signs at where I have to get off, and I usually end up going to the wrong place, and having to turn back. Of course my wife says "you don;t go anywhere - you don't need a Tom Tom and you can use Mapquest! I never could read a map, nor follow instructions anyway!

 Chapter 3

  I often think about how things have changed so far in my lifetime. In 1953, when we moved to Outremont ( a suburb of Greater Montreal), I  saw the last of the streetcars on the street. A few years later, I saw the end of the old coal /steam locomotives. My father's automatic Dodge station wagon automatic had push buttons to change gears,  and a few years later, the jet started to replace the propeller airplane.  I received the Polio vaccine,and about 1964 barbershops started to introduce female hair stylists.  I stop here for now.

Chapter 4 

   Anyway, back to the main point - my introduction to old toy airplanes. The Wright brothers first took flight on December 17, 1903.They were the first to create mechanical control to be able to fly. The USA was only 38 years from having fought the Civil War, many US states were not yet even states, and Canada. The provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta  only entered into the union of Canada (Confederation) on September 1, 1905.  

   After the Wright brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, history never looked back. Eventually the Wrights travelled the world and sold countries around the world their invention and product. By the 1920's there was public air travel, and air mail, and so forth. The greatest achievement in 1927 occurred with Charles Lindburgh  winning the Orteig Prize on his solo flight across the Atlantic on May 20-21 1927.  

Chapter 5

Finally - the Subject of Toy Airplanes!

   As I was gathering my images for today's presentation, I noticed that there were other kinds of materials and mechanics that I did not existed with old airplane toys. Some were made of tin, some with multiple materials (cardboard, wood, and metal). Some were for looking at, some were pull string toys, some were friction toys, some were wind-ups, and one even could be spun around in the air. I certainly learned something there!

   Of course, the colours of the planes were like the cars and trucks - brilliant colours, although there were some plain just metallic planes. Also, the models reflected the different types of planes at the time, with my favourites being the multiple-engine types, and of course those large float planes like the Wyandotte that crossed the Pacific to deliver mail to the American "possessions" (islands) at the time.

So below is my selection for today - from the great resource that I discovered last week - The Strong. 

     You'll probably have noticed that I intentionally enlarged certain photos.  I did that to emphasize the permission agreement that I follow with The Strong. They're quite generous in sharing their photos, as long as you agree to follow their terms. I'm quite thankful for their letting me use their photos.

                                     So that's another post.

                       Thanks for dropping by, and have a 

                  great part of the day, wherever you may be.

                                     Stacey Bindman

                            (Toysearcher@gmail.com)