page_title: Dinky Toys
section_title: Aircraft and ships
hierarchical_section_title: Dinky Toys / Pre-war history / Aircraft and ships
caption_attribution_description: English: Dinky Toy model of the liner Queen Mary &#160; Extensive damage to the model is due to zinc pest, a particular problem with Dinky Toys of this age.
context_page_description: Dinky Toys was the brand name for a range of die-cast zamac zinc alloy miniature vehicles produced by Meccano Ltd. They were made in England from 1934 to 1979, at a factory in Binns Road in Liverpool. Dinky Toys were among the most popular diecast vehicles ever made – pre-dating other popular diecast marques, including Corgi, Matchbox and Mattel's Hot Wheels.
context_section_description: In the early days of the Dinky Toys range, aeroplanes and ships formed a considerable part of the output of the Binns Road factory, along with models of cars, vans and trucks. Both civilian and military aircraft were subjects for the Dinky Toys modellers, and the model of the Spitfire was sold in a special presentation box between 1939 and 1941, as part of The Spitfire Fund, to raise money for the supply of a real Spitfire to the Royal Air Force. Some models were clearly identified, whereas others re-issued in 1945 had generic names such as Heavy Bomber (66a) and Two Seater Fighter (66c). The reason for that is not clear, but it may have been that they were not true representations of particular aircraft types. However, there were rumours that some models of aircraft and ships were disguised so that enemy agents would not be able to recognise allied aircraft and shipping from the Dinky Toys models. That was of particular importance in the production of French Dinky models, due to the political friction in Europe before the war and the fact that France was occupied by the Axis forces during hostilities. Those theories do not seem to be valid, because the models with generic names were issued in 1945, after hostilities had ceased (Dinky Toys Encyclopaedia).
  Production of model aircraft resumed after the war with a mixture re-issues of pre-war models, along with models of new civilian airliners and recently-introduced jet-powered aircraft. Production of Dinky planes tailed off in 1968, but was resurgent in 1971 with a range of World War II types complete with battery-powered propellers, as well as modern jet fighters, and even a Sea King helicopter. Those large-scale planes had been developed by Airfix but were made by Meccano Ltd., which had recently been bought by Airfix.
  The range included:
  60a Imperial Airways Liner (Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta) (1934)
  62a Supermarine Spitfire (1939)
  60c Percival Gull (1934)
  60d Sikorsky S58 Helicopter
  60f Cierva C.30A autogiro
  60g de Havilland Comet
  60h Short "Singapore III" flying boat
  60r Short S 23 Empire flying boat
  60s Fairey "Battle" bomber (1940–41)
  60w Clipper III Flying Boat
  62g Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (1939)
  62k The King's Aeroplane
  62m Airspeed Envoy
  62p Armstrong Whitworth Ensign
  62s Hawker Hurricane (1940)
  62w Imperial Airways Liner Frobisher Class
  63 Mayo Composite aircraft
  63b Mercury Sea Plane
  64a Amiot 370 (1939)
  64b Bloch 200 (1939)
  67a Junkers Ju 89 (1941)
  70a Avro York (1946)
  70c Vickers Viking (1954)
  70d Twin Engine Fighter
  70e Gloster Meteor (1946)
  70f Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star (1947)
  701 Short Shetland Flying Boat
  702 De Havilland Comet BOAC (1954)
  703 Handley Page Herald (1955)
  704 Avro York Airliner (1954) – re-issued from 70a
  705 Vickers Viking  – re-issued from 70c
  706 Vickers Viscount Airliner (1956)
  707 Avro Vulcan – renumbered as 749 before release
  708 Vickers Viscount Airliner (BEA) (1957)
  710 Beechcraft Bonanza S35
  712 US Army T-42A – retracting undercarriage
  715 Beechcraft Baron – retracting undercarriage
  716 Westland Sikorsky S51 Helicopter
  717 Boeing 737 in Lufthansa Livery
  731 Twin Engine Fighter – re-issue of 70d
  730 Hawker Tempest II Fighter
  732 Gloster Meteor (1946) – re-issue of 70e
  732 Bell Police Helicopter – same issue number as above (Meteor) – 1974 release
  733 Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star – re-issue of 70f
  734 Supermarine Swift (1955)
  735 Gloster Javelin (1956)
  736 Hawker Hunter (1955)
  737 P.1B Lightning Fighter (1959)
  738 de Havilland Sea Vixen (1960)
  715 Bristol 173 Helicopter
  718 Hawker Hurricane Mk IIe (1972)
  719 Supermarine Spitfire Mk IV (1969) – motorised propeller
  721 Junkers Ju 87 'Stuka' (1969)
  722 Hawker Siddeley Harrier (1970) – retracting undercarriage
  723 Hawker Siddeley H.S.125 Executive Jet – retracting undercarriage
  724 Sea King Helicopter and Apollo Spacecraft Capsule (1971) – motorised main rotor.
  726 Messerschmitt Bf 109E (1972) – motorised propeller
  730 US Navy McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom (1972)
  731 SEPECAT Jaguar (1973) – retracting undercarriage
  749 Avro Vulcan (1955) – boxes marked "992" – "Supertoys" range
  99
caption: Dinky 52a Cunard White Star Line Queen Mary. The model has significant zinc pest decay.
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