DOUGLAS GLOBEMASTER

[Tone]

The Douglas Globemaster, C-124, was a VERY large transport plane of the 1950s and 1960s. A few tin toys were made, the best being the Yonezawa examples from the early 1960s.

Here is a small Yonezawa with ten inch wingspan, radome, wing tanks, opening hatch and even an upper skylight, a dubious fantasy feature. The colors are realistic with "CONTINENTAL DIVISION" in small letters on the tail fin.


This large Bandai toy plane is colorful and named the Bully Beef Express. It has the same wings as a DC-7 with a span of 17."


The strangest toy Globemaster that I have is a Mitsuhashi brand in Northwest colors. Northwest never flew airline services with a Globemaster. This is not only a strange toy, but a rare one. This example has worn finish on the crown but it's the only one I have ever seen for sale. The wing tanks are metal. Those on the Yonezawa and Bandai planes are plastic.


I remember that Barry has a nice example, I hope he will show us a photo!

[grwebster]

I have been looking for the Yone metal prop example for a long time, but there are very pricey....
As an aside that has nothing to do with toys, when I was on Embassy/USMILGP duty in Rio de Janero, Brazil, 1970-72, we had weekly flights by various USAF aircraft, normally the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter but from time to time the lumbering Douglas C-124 Globemaster crewed by National Guard airman. We had a USAF DC-4 based in Rio just for us. One week the aircraft would come down the east coast of South America and returned up the west coast, the next week the routing was reversed. They serviced our Military advisor networks and the US Embassy in each of the country capitals. Fascinating plane. I flew with the C-141 often but never the C-124. The one time I almost took it to Panama I got bumped by a higher priority, a real nasty USA Major who pissed off everyone as he insisted his wife was a priority pax, too. The USAF aircraft commander refused because the plane did not have toilet facilities for women pax. The guy was irate. He eventually left without his wife. Unfortunately the plane flew into a mountain descending into Maracaibo Venezula, all crew and pax were killed. I had to make the phone call to his wife....and so it goes.