Dan Dare, Pilot of The Future was the UK's answer to our Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. Growing up in the '50s and '60s I had absolutely no clue as to who Dan Dare was and didn't become acquainted with him until the recent past when I really started getting into space toys. I am certainly no expert on the subject and am still learning as I go but from what I've seen there was some pretty cool imagery coming out of his comics. Like Buck and Flash, the Dan Dare series featured a ton of different spaceship designs many of which broke from the traditional and ubiquitous 'pointy tube with wings' variety. One of the designs which became iconic was the spaceship 'EAGLE' and there appears to have been several copies by several manufacturers over the years. I do not have an original 'EAGLE' type spaceship because they tend to get really pricey over on this side of The Pond. Soooo, the next best thing is an Eagle-outline type ship like this one made by the Automatic Toy Co. Their 'Space Rocket' approximates the look without being a direct copy, and for me - good enough! :-) It measures 8 1/2" (21.59cm) L x 4 1/8" (10.47cm) wingspan x 2 1/4" (5.71cm) H and features a friction drive. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina
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