The Boulton Paul Defiant was a WWII British 'turret fighter' with no forward facing armament which was designed as an interceptor. Apparently while it did just fine intercepting German bombers, the lack of extra firepower made it vulnerable to the Luftwaffe's fighters.
In Bill Hanlon's excellent book "PLASTIC TOYS Dimestore Dreams of the '40s & '50s'" the first iteration of this plane was by Acme Plastics and made from 1942-44. After that it was made by Thomas Toy from 1945 - mid-'50s. Now both are listed in his book as having wheels and rotating prop. However this toy does not have either and may have been a later more cost effective version. The toy is a pretty faithful, albeit small, representation of the Defiant. It consists of only two parts, a fuselage/wing combo and a separate, non-moving prop, and measures 3 3/4" (9.52cm) L x 4 1/4" (10.79cm) wingspan x 1 1/2" (3.81cm) H. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina
Courtesy Wikipedia
Courtesy Wikipedia
Courtesy Wikipedia
Fascinating...have you seen the Palitoy one on my Blog Ed? I don't think there's a 'link' between the two, but nice to see a similar model of the same, uncommon, unsuccessful ('ish) plane! And that lovely space-ship metallic steel-blue colour as well!
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Hugh, I didn't see the Defiant but did see the Sunderland (I LOVE the Sunderland, both the real one and the Palitoy), the Spit, and the Wellington though. Awesome stuff. It's funny how many items made by Stateside companies turn up across the pond as well by other makers. I know back in the day there were a lot of friendly 'hand-shake' deals so it wouldn't have been unusual for a little tyke in Europe to have the same kind of toy a little tyke over here would have and without mom & pop having to pay a price which included import duties.
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