******* FLASH BREAKING NEWS********
No Flintstones today
"Thank you, thank you very much"
As you know we transitioned from Fire Engine and Emergency Vehicle Friday's here on Toys & Stuff to Flintstones Friday, but occassionally there's gonna be glitches. I still have plenty of offerings from Bedrock to show, but just haven't gotten around to taking pictures of them. Sooooo not wanting to start the weekend with no posts I figured why not post sumthin', so I picked this nifty little tin-litho jet from an unknown Japanese toy maker.
The F-106A Convair Delta Dart was among the Century Series of jet fighters and first flew in 1956. It would go on to become the primary all-weather interceptor for the United States Air Force and would last into the 1980s before finally being phased out. I remember these at my first airbase back in 1978-82 where they were flown by the National Guard. Their hangar was across the flightline and I remember a) how LOUD they were and b) that beautiful red/orange afterburner glow.
F-106A Courtesy of Wikipedia
The toy itself is fairly small at 7 1/2" (19.1cm) L x 4 1/2" (11.4cm) wingspan. It may have been sold as a bin toy or in a header bag and my guess would be that it was an early to mid-1960s offering. During that time the Convair would still have been popular but as newer, better planes were introduced it would have fallen out of favor with toy buyers by the late '60s. The only clue as to origin is the "Made in Japan" stamping on the left wing and there are no other maker marks. The toy has the ubiquitous friction motor but it is somewhat unusual in that the wings are integral to the fuselage and are not a separate, removeable assembly. Okay, enough yammering, on to the pics - Enjoy!
