Picked up this unknown tiny prop...

[buzzard]

Hello everyone,

At an old-school toy shop, I could not resist this little guy all crammed into the locked case! It is a beautiful piston-engined passenger plane; the holes for the windows and cockpit, and the cowling is what appealed the most to me and I had to have it. It was listed for $25 but the shopkeeper noticed one of the propellers were missing and gave it to me for $15.

He said it maybe from the WWII era, he pointed me to the hard rubber cream-colored wheels, and mentioned a name of the company but I forgot it...it had been a few weeks...starts with a "B"

There are no name or other identifying letterings anywhere on the plane. I would also like to know what model plane this is.

Thank you for your help!
Marc

[Toyplaneguy]

The manufacturer is Barclay, and was made in the mid 30's. Yours is in average condition, but you got a very good price for it. Known as the US Army Plane, and produced in different colors, but most common in brown like the one you have. Someone might be able to say it is similar to a real plane. Sue Richerdson calls it a Northrop Delta.

[MichaelB]

Agreed...I was looking at one on eBay last week. This looks in good shape and needs to be cleaned. ...then there is that prop problem...
Nice find!

[grwebster]

that basic Barclay plane came in several colors, the rarest one is the red white and blue version
http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en ... =220&ty=77

There were only two successful manufacturers of American single-engined passenger transport aircraft in the 1930s, Lockheed {Altair, Explorer, Sirius, Orion, Vega,} and Northrup {Alpha, Delta, Gamma}. While there were similar in appearance, yours is a decent representation of the Northrop Delta.

There was also a 'piggyback' variant of the Barclay plane that carried a small Spirit of St Louis made by Barclay {not as first mentioned-Tootsietoy, Thanks Tone} that is easily distinguished by a slot in the fuselage near the rudder to fit the Spirit's tail skid, and punched out passenger windows for the Spirit's main landing gear.

There was also a Barclay 'bomber' variant that with the help of a wire support carried a lead bomb, a big lead bomb! This variant was brown and had no other modifications aside from the removable wire bomb rack.
Do not display these lead planes on wooden shelves as there can be a lead 'rot' issue. best to place on a glass slide or metal.

[MichaelB]

Good information!
FYI, there were two other important single engine airliners at the time: the Vultee V-1 and the Clarke GA. I don't know of "toys" of these aircraft, but I'm not surprised that Lockheed and Northop were so well represented.
All are classic aircraft with great '30s styling.

[grwebster]

"There were only two successful manufacturers of American single-engined passenger transport aircraft in the 1930s"
There were others for sure-but the Clarke was produced in about 5 examples.
I never heard of the Vultee V-1 before you pointed it out, but it was successful- about 25 Vultee V-1 s were made.

[MichaelB]

I saw the "successful" note you made!
These various "High Speed Cabin Monoplanes" were all shot down by the CAA in 1934, when they decided you needed at least two motors to carry passengers as an airliner.
Also not mentioned is the Boeing Monomail, again better remembered by it's bomber version.
Only five Clark GA planes were built, but saw service with American Airlines, Western Airlines and PAA in South America. It was one of the first all metal, cantilevered, low wing, retractable gear airliners built. It is under recognized today. It first flew in 1933.
The Vultee saw lots of airline service, as well as Air Force use. It even was a player in the Spanish Civil War.
It's great to find these old toys of these planes because they exhibit so much of the style of the times!

[Tone]

The little yellow plane was made by Barclay too, it's even in the 30s Barclay catalog.



Note 2 of them on an aircraft carrier:

http://www.mboxcommunity.com/forums/sho ... ay+catalog

[grwebster]

RIGHT YOU ARE TONY, I'LL CORRECT MY POST ABOVE

[Tone]

I thought the little yellow plane was a Tootsietoy - until I saw that catalog. For some reason, the seller told me that a company called "Cosmo" made it for Tootsietoy.