Very few toys by these manufacturers have ever been offered in the marketplace

Aviation-related playthings have been produced in many countries, but recently an impressive selection of tin aircraft toys was revealed in the form of two collections going back more than 50 years. The collections of American Seymour Merrall and Frenchman Bernard Macaire have shed light on some obscure producers of aeronautical toys. Astonishingly, some rarely seen aircraft from both Rico of Spain and INGAP of Italy were uncovered in both collections. Few toys by these manufacturers have ever been offered in the marketplace.

Rico
Several employees of the leading Spanish tin toy maker of its era, Paya, started a competing company in 1922. They named it Rico and used the trademark RSA. They began with the production of tin mechanical toys similar to some they had produced at Paya. Because no dated product catalogs or price lists have been uncovered, it is impossible to document Rico’s complete range and dates of introduction.

One of the first aircraft toys Rico produced around 1932 was a tin autogiro toy of an early version of the Spanish inventor Juan De La Cierva’s model C-4. This toy was produced in fully lithographed tin with stamped metal wheels, and was driven by a clockwork motor that had a permanent key. The second aircraft they produced a few years later was the popular Cierva model C-19, the first widely manufactured autogiro aircraft. By this time Rico had gone to simple stamped and embossed tin with a silver paint overspray of the unprimed metal surfaces for most of its aircraft toys.

The de Havilland DH.88 Comet, a racing aircraft developed for the 1934 transcontinental MacRobertson Air Race, came next. It is not known why the aircraft became a subject for Rico’s designers, as it had no known links to Spain or to the race, which did not fly over the country but nevertheless garnered widespread media coverage. There is some question as to when or even if the toy was produced before the Spanish Civil War erupted in July 1936. This conflict devastated all industry in Spain until its end in 1939.

Rico also produced a single-engine aircraft that appears to be similar to the Heinkel HE-70 used by the Germans in the civil war. Additionally a floating seaplane toy, perhaps inspired by a Dornier design, was produced using a key-wound clockwork motor to drive a single water propeller.

Spain remained officially neutral during World War II, but raw materials for industry were limited for the duration and toy production became extremely limited. It is known that Rico ceased all production until 1947. At this point it reissued several of its earlier aircraft.

It could be assumed that production of the later version of the autogiro resumed postwar, as examples of this toy are generally available in the market. It is doubtful that the seaplane was reissued as few examples of it have appeared.

Presumably, the next toy aircraft issued was a nicely modeled tin Hurricane fighter, some being finished in all silver and others having the X tail markings of the Nationalist Air Force used during the Spanish Civil War. Here, again, the subject is unusual because Hurricane aircraft never flew in the Spanish Civil War or afterwards with the Spanish Air Force. Oddly another local toy rival, the Juguetes y Estuches firm known as JYE, concurrently produced a smaller, but nearly identical version of the Hurricane, which may have been launched prior to 1940. Most experts agree that the Rico Hurricane entered production in the early postwar years using tooling developed in the 1930s. By this time the Hurricane was badly out of date and no longer in active service. It was not a popular toy and is rarely seen today.

The Comet racer also was reissued, but there is some question as to when this occurred. Some experts consider the Comet Racer to be a much later postwar introduction, pointing to the late 1950s style of box graphics as proof.

It could also be assumed that the single-engine aircraft was reissued. Some examples having a multicolored finish have been noted, which could indicate a postwar reissue.

Following this period Rico did issue a new unsophisticated design of the Douglas DC-4, a widely used military and civilian transport aircraft. Early production had metal propellers later replaced with plastic discs. A twin-engine version resembling the Convair was also produced using the same fuselage.

By the early 1960s Rico toys were mainly molded plastic vehicles, and most of the tin production was eliminated. The few plastic aircraft they issued were not competitive.

INGAP
Industria Nazionale Giocattoli Automatica Padova, known by the acronym INGAP, was started in Italy around 1920. Once again, efforts to document their products and define production dates are impractical as factory records have not been available.

In the early 1930s INGAP made a generic biplane similar to those made in Germany at the time. One has been noted in a colorful lithographed design and another, unusual for the period, in full camouflage. Both featured clockwork drive and tin wheels with the INGAP name.

In 1936, Italy attacked Ethiopia without a declaration of war and after seven months annexed the East African nation as a colony. During this invasion both the Fiat CR.32 and several versions of Savoia-Marchetti trimotors, mainly the SM.79 and SM.81 designs, were used and later went on the fight with the Nationalists in Spain.

INGAP made accurate tin toys of two of these aircraft. The Fiat CR.42 Falco "Falcon" design was a radial engine variant of the CR.32 and was one of the last biplane fighters ever developed by any nation. INGAP’s toy was a remarkably sleek and accurate key-wound model of the actual aircraft.

Many variants of the INGAP SM.81 toy were produced in both military and civilian markings. These toys’ robust design closely reflected the actual aircraft. Squadron markings on some of these toys could relate to either Italy’s earlier Abyssinian conquest or the desert campaigns against Allied forces in World War II.

Around 1940 INGAP added a toy resembling an Ambrosini single-engine civilian aircraft, possibly the Type 7. It was produced individually and also as an action toy mounted a pole with a gyroscope to provide simulated flight.

INGAP’s last aviation toy subject produced as World War II widened was the Macchi C.202 Folgore "Thunderbolt" monoplane. Derived from an earlier design, Macchi, thanks to its Axis partner, was able to use a high-performance Daimler-Benz liquid-cooled, supercharged, inverted V-12 engine, which providing a much improved aerodynamic profile and outstanding performance. The INGAP toy had an open cockpit and was finished in red with accurate landing gear.

Following the war it is generally thought that INGAP continued to issue these aircraft for a while. Their first new aircraft toy was an early variant of the triple-tail Lockheed L-749 Constellation in both LAI and later, Alitalia markings. Only vaguely resembling the actual aircraft, it was produced in chrome, red, white and silver versions. It is often sought after perhaps due only to its strikingly unusual Art Deco design.

Faced with the competition of brightly lithographed, accurate Japanese tin aircraft marketed mainly to the United States, coupled with a surge of metal die-cast airplane toys by Italy’s Mercury, France’s Solido and Meccano’s Dinky toy offerings, both Rico and INGAP reverted mainly to producing toy plastic automobiles.