MAC Forum

I'd like to start a discussion on vintage helicopter toys that actually fly...

As a helicopter pilot myself, I've always been fascinated with toys that were designed to launch into the air and return for re-use. Many of these toys use a mechanical device to rapidly accelerate the main rotor. This action creates enough lift to propel the lightweight toy into the sky. Some toys simply fall/glide back to earth. But, more than a few have ingenious spring designs which allow the rotor blades to change their pitch and replicate the autorotation maneuver that real helicopters use to safely land when there is no power driving the rotor(s).

Toys like these received a lot of abuse, so I'm always impessed when I find one in good shape. This rings even more true when you consider that toys of this design were produced at least as far back as the early 1950s. They've been around for a while!

A number of countries produced toys of this design. Countries like Germany and the USA pioneered early development of these toys. Soon after, the United Kingdom, Italy and, to some extent, Japan quickly followed. As more time passed, other coutries like Argentina, Mexico, Hong Kong, Hungary, the USSR and others began copying the design.

So there are a LOT of varieties out there... and, I think they're all REALLY cool!

I'll start posting some examples here, and I'm hoping other contributors will add to the thread in the hopes of showing just how diverse this type of toy can be.

The first toy helicopter I'll post in the "flying category" is the earliest example I personally know of...

It was produced in the USA by Ken Crowder. I found a toy ad that dates it to at least as early as 1946.

It's very simple in design, but clearly is modelled after the "modern" helicopter. Lot's of flying disk toys were made prior to the 1940s, but I'm sure this one started to change the way kids looked at this relatively new invention.

Here's a beautiful and impressive hand-crafted toy by Berg's of Germany. It's the Hummingbird Helicopter and was imported to the USA by Kraco. The toy was lauched using an ingenius metal and steel plunger.

This toy was produced over a number of years; the earliest ad I've seen dates it to a least 1951. Another company, BeBu, produced this toy as well.

The rotors are hand-covered in paper. The rotor head is complex and has a spring on each blade that helps it change pitch.

As fragile as it looks, it was designed to fly again and again.

It's always surprising to see that one survived 60 years!

Here's the Marx Midtown Terminal / Flying Helicopter Skyport toy. Marx released at least three versions of this toy in the early to mid 1950s.

A beautiful rendition of the Hiller Hornet by BeBu of Germany. This toy was called the "Helicop" and was launched with the same style of plunger device as the Hummingbird Helicopter above.

For more Hiller Hornets, check out this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1021

Here's an unusual one... the JETEX helicopter was made both in England and in France. I'll feature the French version here since some of you will be interested to know that Solido was part of the release.

Even more interesting is that these toys used a jet engine to power the rotors for flight!

Mark, as a kid we played a lot with the Jetex flying toys- Still remember lighting the coiled fuse. They flew well too.
The Solido Jetex helicopter is much sought after by Solido collectors here in France.

Here's a rare beauty from Modern Toys (Masudaya) Japan.

I really like the fact that this toy says "U.S. Post Office La Guardia Airport" and "U.S. Post Office International Airport" on the launching base.

Helicopter toys that are associated with mail transport are pretty unusual.

I'm guessing early to mid 1950s for this toy...

oooh... nice that last one!

And let's not forget the Arnold really flying toys - see the thread 'helicopters from germany'!

A nice flyer propelled by the same system, but with batteries is the Yonezawa:

Then there are the balancing acts like this HK Stratocopter: