The parallel course followed by a revered toy manufacturer and Germany’s stealth re-armament program of the 1930s

When German firms such as Märklin and Tipp Co. started producing military toys in the 1930s, they chose larger-size toys. The Tipp Co. vehicles, for example, were sized to fit with popular wire-reinforced composition toy soldiers of the period made by Elastolin and Lineol. However, Lehmann’s two aircraft of that period were considerably smaller overall.

Regardless of their diminutive size, the quality of Lehmann’s craftsmanship and lithography was unequaled in early tin aircraft toys and, even today, could be considered the standard of excellence.

By the 1930s, the firm founded by Ernst Paul Lehmann in 1881 had produced a wide variety of toys including the classic Climbing Monkey, birds, insects, boats, clowns, people, vehicles with drivers, and dirigibles, many with ingenious windup clockwork mechanisms powering humorous, lifelike actions. Two early aviation toys, both based on actual aircraft of the period, had already been well received: the accurate 1913 tin-and-wire monoplane Ikarus, and the Zeppelin. Both toys were capable of being “flown” in a circle on a hanging string powered by a clockwork windup mechanism that turned the propellers.

As Germany started to rearm, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I, Lehmann developed two wonderfully accurate, brightly lithographed toys that were modeled on the country’s newly developed aircraft designs: the high-speed, all-metal, elliptically winged, single-engine Heinkel He-70 “Blitz” (Lightning), first flown in 1932; and the somewhat later development, the twin engine Heinkel He-111, based on a similar wing shape, which first flew in 1935. Both of these small Lehmann toys (the He-70 having a wingspan of only 55⁄8 inches and the He-111 71⁄14 inches – consistent with the scale of 1:100) appeared in the mid 1930s in period civilian markings complete with Germany’s new symbol of the Third Reich, the Nazi swastika.

Both of the actual Heinkel aircraft entered service under the guise of the civilian air transport firm Lufthansa (no legal connection to today’s airline of the same name, which took off in 1953), ostensibly for mail, cargo and passenger service. But even a cursory inspection of either plane could have revealed that both were technologically advanced, military-capable combat aircraft. The He-70 could easily be modified for a role as a fast reconnaissance light bomber. The He-111, while supposedly a mail and transport aircraft, had large bomb-bay doors and could be easily modified by adding modular bomb racks amidships and armament suitable for delivering a medium load of weapons in combat attacks. It was certainly far from being an ideal design for carrying passengers or even cargo.

Each Lehmann airplane toy was issued with a colorfully labeled cardboard box, which contained an information sheet relating to the actual aircraft, and a metal ring, string and fuselage-attachment device allowing the toy to be flown in circles when swung around by a child. No clockwork mechanisms were used. Both toys had metal propellers that freely and realistically turned in the airstream when flown. Both the He-70 and He-111 toys, reflecting the actual planes’ advanced retractable landing gear, were provided with additional parts representing the gear in an in-flight folded position. The pins holding the propellers also held the selected gear position in place, and when removed, facilitated the changing of the landing-gear configurations.

The early Lehmann He-70 was marked with an unusual German civilian registration: D-UDET. This was most certainly in honor of Ernst Udet, who was at that time in command of the Reich Air Ministry’s development wing. More importantly, Ernst Udet was a national hero. At the age of 22 he became one of Germany’s highest-scoring aces of World War I. His 62 aerial combat victories were second only to Manfred von Richthofen, the infamous Red Baron, and his wing commander in the Jagdgeschwader 1, known as the Flying Circus. In France, Udet was known as the “Devil’s Pilot,” based on his exploits during World War I.

Udet committed suicide on Nov. 17, 1941. Evidence indicates Udet’s disillusionment with the Nazi Party following the invasion of Russia, along with a difficult working relationship with his boss at the Air Ministry, Riechsmarschall Hermann Göring, a former squadron mate, were contributing causes to the decision to end his life.

The civilian version of Lehmann’s He-111 carried the German registration of D-AHAO. This aircraft was the fourth and successful prototypem first flown in 1936 and entering production shortly thereafter. This version was powered by the newly developed 1,000-horsepower Daimler-Benz engines, providing a 40-percent increase in power over the earlier BMW engines.

As Hitler entered the Spanish revolution on the side of Generalissimo Francisco Franco against the communist rebels, these Heinkel aircraft gave up their civilian disguises and went to full Luftwaffe military markings for service with the Condon Legion. Even the then largely outdated He-70 served in Spain as Germany’s first “Schnellbomber,” or high-speed bomber.

As the camouflage schemas were added to both aircraft in combat service, Lehmann, true to form, followed closely thereafter by issuing camouflage variants of its two toys, reflecting both aircraft in combat service.

The early civilian variant of the Heinkel’s He-111 and Lehmann’s toy had a classic raised or stepped cockpit. But by 1938 the Heinkel firm had modified the aircraft with a variant having higher performance with even more powerful engines and a redesigned, aerodynamically clean, unstepped and extensively glazed cockpit.

Once again the Lehmann firm followed with new tooling, providing a highly accurate rendition of the modified He-111 in two versions of military camouflage. They eliminated the raised cockpit and replaced it with a freshly lithographed streamlined design representing the all-glass nose and a raised gun position on top of the fuselage. Air intakes were added above the engines simulating the new, larger and more powerful engines. Lehmann did not issue of this in civilian Lufthansa markings.

While both aircraft were issued in light and dark camouflage designs, it is not known precisely why these two versions were made. It could be reasonably assumed that they reflected the actual military versions, one for its war in Spain and another, perhaps, as Germany began its rampage over Europe, starting with the invasion of Poland in 1939. Both the He-70 and the He-111 continued to serve with the Luftwaffe until the end of the war in 1945.

At some point Lehmann wanted to distribute its toys in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, but to avoid sensitivities, it modified the He-70 Lufthansa lithography by eliminating the Nazi swastika and Iron Cross on the underside of the wings, replacing them with British Royal Air Force roundels on the both sides of wings and fuselage. The Heinkel firm had already sold two He-70s to the British who, in spite of the persistent rumors that they served as the inspiration for the Spitfire fighter plane, used them mainly for engine tests. At any rate, Lehmann’s attempt to market toys vaguely similar to the British monoplane fighters of the period, such as the Hurricane and Spitfire, was short-lived and ended abruptly when Great Britain declared war on Germany. For this reason, the RAF variant remains the most difficult one to find today. There have been rumors of a French military variant of this toy, but no examples have been confirmed.

One version of the Lehmann He-111 has been found with the Russian red star crudely stamped over the toy’s German markings. It is known that the Russians occupied the Lehmann toy factory grounds after 1945 following Germany’s defeat and perhaps obtained a large stock of toys and parts. They could have modified them in this way for sale in Russia and Eastern Europe. No documentation or other confirmation can collaborate this, and to the author’s knowledge no other such modified toy has been found. A few years later the East German republic nationalized the firm.

Laws were enacted after the war that prohibited the Nazi swastika appearing on any objects sold. As toys began to appear in toy and antique shops in Germany, the swastika design had to be covered over, often with a crude coat of paint. Many German military toys found today, including toy soldiers, vehicles and the aircraft are often seen with the swastika design painted over, or scratched off altogether.

Family members resurrected the Lehmann firm in the 1950s, in Nuremburg, West Germany. In the early 1960s it produced an unsuccessful line of small, boxed, all-plastic airliners, but regained its former fame, reputation and some better economic standing with the successful launch on a worldwide scale of the G scale model railway train line called “Lehmann Grossbahn” (LGB, The Big Train). In 2001 Lehmann reissued the Ikarus in a limited-edition series to honor the firm’s 120-year anniversary. But in September 2006 the firm was forced into bankruptcy, apparently unable to adapt to market conditions and cheaper Asian products.

Lehmann’s wonderfully built 1930s tin aircraft toys remain scarce, and are highly prized additions to toy collections all over the world.