America’s TootsieToy produced toy aircraft prior to World War I

Dowst Brothers of Chicago is generally credited with having been the first firm to produce toy aircraft. Founded in the 1890s, this firm was a leading metal manufacturing company that used molten metal injected into dies under high pressure to allow it to accurately produce in quantity any small metal object. One of the Dowst granddaughters was called “Toots,” and the firm adopted the trade name TootsieToy for its growing range of die-cast objects including game pieces, candy prizes, vehicles and dollhouse furniture.

In 1910 the firm introduced a small cast-metal Bleriot monoplane, which was a popular subject in the media after Louis Bleriot’s record flight across the English Channel the year before. Coincidentally, the French firm S.R. produced an almost identical toy, leading to a continuing controversy about which came first and unresolved suspicions about whether one was copied from the other.

The Bleriot and a smaller charm version with a ring at the tail were the only aircraft TootsieToy produced over the next 15 years. In 1925 for the World Flyers set, it modified the casting to place a metal loop aft of the cockpit, allowing it be suspended and flown around a spiral metal band mounted on a stand.

In 1926 a new yellow and red generic biplane toy was introduced. Following Charles Lindberg’s solo transatlantic crossing, TootsieToy reacted rapidly and modified its Bleriot casting by adding the name Spirit of Saint Louis on the top of the wing and a loop on the tail for hanging on a souvenir ribbon. Then shortly thereafter in 1928, TootsieToy added a new die-cast airplane, the Aero Dawn, a toy more closely resembling Lindberg’s Ryan monoplane. The Aero Dawn had a tin plate wing mated to the die-cast fuselage embossed with UX 214. As Hubley had already licensed the actual Spirit’s registration, NX 211, TootsieToy used a similar, but slightly different one. It was soon joined by the Wings Biplane. Some were individually boxed toys with strong Art Deco designs.

Both the Aero Dawn and Wings Biplane remained in production until World War II.

TootsieToy introduced boxed gift sets in 1929, and in an effort to broaden their assortment, they modified both the Wings Biplane and Aero Dawn to include stamped tin float pontoons instead of metal wheels, hence resulting in seaplanes. Generally the seaplane versions, which were sold only in boxed sets, are more difficult to find today.

TootsieToy generally did not issue toy catalogs or assign item numbers to be cast onto their toys, thus challenging today’s collectors in documenting them. Some toy reference books have been able to establish an order number for each toy based on TootsieToy’s wholesale price lists. TootsieToy pursued a marketing strategy that focused entirely on selling directly into the wholesale distribution network. They did not market their toys directly to children and avoided point of sale promotional materials. This is in stark contrast to the Meccano Dinky Toys’ program, which targeted children with illustrated pamphlets, catalogs, a Dinky collector’s club and specific model numbers; and informative box lids that included complete descriptions of the actual aircraft.

From 1930 until World War II, TootsieToy strived to provide more-accurate toys of popular airplanes, starting with the popular Ford TriMotor civilian airliner. This toy was introduced in the now-standard TootsieToy colors of red, yellow, green, blue and later silver. A few examples in both white and black have been found, but are unusual. In 1931, TootsieToy issued the first airport playset in a colorfully printed box that included a pair of TriMotors with a lithographed tin hangar.

In 1932, during the Great Depression, TootsieToy introduced two attractive new aircraft designed to sell at half the normal retail price of 10 cents. The first was a low-wing two-seat open-cockpit monoplane based on the Lockheed Sirius. The second aircraft was a high-wing cabin plane based on the Bellanca Pacemaker. Both of these had fuselages of cast lead and identical pressed tin wings. TootsieToy and mixed various colored fuselages and tin wings to provide a wide assortment. They are considered uncommon finds today.

A scale-like toy of the Cierva/Pitcairn/Kellet Autogiro appeared in 1934 with pressed-steel rotors, a tin wing, and die-cast fuselage. It was issued in the standard colors and also a white variant. The following year TootsieToy issued a reasonably accurate toy based on the Douglas DC-2 airliner in TWA markings.

The U.S. Army plane first appeared in 1936, in a variety of colors. This toy was the first military aircraft made by TootsieToy and can be rather loosely attributed to a Northrop Gamma proposal for the Army Air Corps. It had U.S. Army and star-in-a-circle roundels embossed on the wings.

In 1937 a WACO (Weaver Aircraft Co. of Ohio) cabin biplane was introduced with U.S. Navy and military roundels embossed on the wing, and a fictitious machine gun port on the top of the fuselage. At the same time, the TootsieToy Crusader appeared based on the unsuccessful American Gyro Crusader prototype – an obscure, odd-looking aircraft with a teardrop fuselage, twin engines and twin booms. Hubley was also fascinated enough with this aircraft to concurrently produce a similar toy.

TootsieToy developed an arrangement using two pulley hubs attached to the top of a toy enabling it to “fly” down a taut string. The TootsieToy Zeppelin U.S.N. Los Angeles, along with several spaceships based on the 1930s adventures of the comic strip character Buck Rogers, and finally the limited Fly-N-Giro toy, 1938-1940, came out using this system.

Four small new aircraft were also produced for the TootsieToy Midgets line: the Atlantic Clipper based on the Boeing Clipper Flying Boat, a Douglas DC-3, a Spirit of St Louis and a single-engine fighter; all of which were sold in sets and on printed cards. Two new commercial airliner toys soon appeared: in 1937, the twin-engine Eastern Airlines Lockheed Electra; and in the 1939, the triple-tailed Douglas DC-4E (E for "experimental") Super Mainliner prototype developed for United Airlines.

As the threat of a world war grew, TootsieToy modified several of its castings to reflect a superfluous military role. The U.S. Navy WACO was modified to include Dive Bomber embossed on top of the wing, and the DC-4E casting was changed underneath to have either Army Transport or Long Range Bomber included. Both have been found with several colors variations. TootsieToy also added camouflage paint schemes to several of its toys, including the Dive Bomber, the U.S. Army Plane, and the new DC-4E castings. All of these late modifications took place around 1941 just before all toy production ceased after the United States declared war on Japan. All are regarded as quite scarce now.

Finally TootsieToy developed three new fighter toys based on preproduction prototypes still in development with aircraft manufacturers: the Curtis XP-40, the Lockheed YP-38 and the Bell XP-39. A Sikorsky S-43/JRS-1 toy seaplane was also prepared. Of these only the Curtiss P-40 single-engine fighter was introduced by 1941. When TootsieToy production resumed in 1947, the three other aircraft designs, which were long obsolete by the war’s end, appeared for a limited time until a totally new range of civilian aircraft could be developed. Both the P-38 Lightning and the Sikorsky Coast Guard Seaplane retained the out-of-date prewar roundels. The P-39 Airacobra, however, was updated with the newer star-and-bar insignia on its lithographed tin wing. The P-40 was not reissued after the war and is considered by collectors to be the hardest of all TootsieToy aircraft to find today.

The success of the TootsieToy aircraft in the market inspired several firms to make blatant copies. Dyson and Johillco in England produced counterfeit examples of the Ford Trimotor, the Aero Dawn and the Autogiro. Today, ironically, these are much sought after by American toy aircraft collectors.

“I was surprised at how easily and inexpensively a worthwhile TootsieToy aircraft collection could be compiled when compared to Dinky Toys or Solido, said Barry Class, an advanced toy aircraft collector. “While they are not that common here in England, after only a few years I was able to acquire at least one example of each. My favorite is the WACO biplane.”

Mike and Sue Richardson have devoted much of their life documenting die-cast aircraft toys by the major producers. From their first magazine series, Dinky Toys and Modeled Miniatures in the 1980s, arose two Dinky Toy books published by New Cavendish Books, and most recently Diecast Toy Aircraft by Sue Richardson, also published by New Cavendish Books in 1997. They have educated tens of thousands of collectors around the world and provided indispensable references.