Mandarin Toys

[MichaelB]

I wanted to go ahead and get the subject of Mandarin airplanes away from the DynaFlite thread before it grows too large. For the moment, direct comments to this thread. I'll return sometime in the future to flesh out the issue from Mandarin (and "Circle M"). Personally I don't find them as nice as DynaFlites, although they have some interesting subjects.
Production start time is very similar to DynaFlite - the early '70s. I consider these lines to be born of the war in Vietnam and the movement of Matchbox production to the Far East. Seems that everyone wanted in on the act! Most of their planes were made in Singapore - look for that on the castings.
Unlike DynaFlites and other like Playarts, Mandarin molds were issued under a variety of names and labels. Here's a partial listing:
Mandarin Industrial Corporation
Wild Planes
Superwheels
Combat Wings
Prop Planes of WWII
Tiny Mites
Imperial Toy Corporation
Speedeeeeee Planes
Lucht Macht
Sky Champs
Wheeler/Go Line/Sky Stars
...and more! ...the genealogy gets fuzzy after awhile, and I make no claims to clearing it up! If anything, it's muddier than ever! It makes me appreciate the DynaFlite line even more!
Michael