C is for C&T Auctions - Forthcoming 12th December 'James Opie' Sale - Skybirds

Over the next three days SSW will be premising the forthcoming sale at C&T Auctions, by publishing the articles accompanying the press release for the sale, today we are looking at the background history of the section of the auction dealing with Derek Goldberg's collection of Skybirds models - C&T Auction Lots 505-559 inclusive.

Lot 525

SKYBIRDS

The vast majority of boyhood toy soldier collections that I have seen dating from the later 1930s to the Second World War have a residue of Skybird figures in the bottom of the carton.

The whole period of rearmament in Britain was closely mirrored by the toys available in the shops, at that time provided by Britains, Hill, Taylor and Barrett, Crescent, Meccano Dinky, Astra and even Elastolin and Lineol. Not least among these were Skybirds, the pioneers of 1/72 scale aircraft modeling.

Alfred James Holladay, the leading light of the Skybird range, was no stranger to the toy industry. He had been in the trade since 1893, the year that Britains started making toy soldiers. In the Boer War, he enlisted in the City Imperial Volunteers. After he came home, he joined the wholesale firm of C. F. Eckhardt, and may well have commissioned the famous Army Supply Corps two-wagon set from Britains, which had an escort of marching City Imperial Volunteers.

In 1916, he bought out the company and changed its name to A. J. Holladay. He remained a successful toy wholesaler right up until the Second World War, and as such developed the Skybirds as exclusive product for his business. In this he was ably helped by James Hay Stevens, a precocious teenager born in 1913, whose first love was toy soldiers, and who had been drawn into aeromodelling at the age of ten when he lamented the fact that Britains as yet produced no models of aircraft. At first, he modeled in 1/36 scale, close to the size of his soldiers. When he ran out of space in this size, he decided to halve his scale to 1/72^nd.

Enthusiasm for aviation in the early 1930s was at its peak during a period when many famous manufacturers were bringing out ambitious new aircraft on the urging of government inspired plans, both military and civil. The proving of air routes and the excitement of record breaking flights and air races engendered the right atmosphere to sell aviation toys.

When James Stevens started to cast around for a suitable way to earn a living, and met James Holladay, the energy unleashed by the meeting between the seasoned entrepreneur and the eighteen year old enthusiast was almost instantaneous. Stevens was a brilliant draftsman, designer and modeller, designing and prototyping at least seventy-three issued aircraft kits in 1/72^nd scale between 1932 and 1942 made out of wood and metal parts.

He also had a major part in devising and developing the amazing number of airfield buildings, personnel, vehicles and accessories that made Skybirds into the addictive collectable that more than held its own with the likes of Dinky and Frog, and was to be the forerunner of Airfix and every other manufacturer of 1/72^nd scale aircraft. My old friend Algy Sinclair, without whose ‘Skybird Notes’ it would have been impossible to write this article, claimed that ‘no range as comprehensive had been made before or has been since’.

Each kit took between three and six months to develop, with Stevens closely in touch with the manufacturers and the Air Ministry to glean every possible detail of the prototype in advance, as much as security would allow. The issue of the first kit was coordinated with the record breaking solo flight of Amy Johnson to Cape Town in July 1932. The box artwork for the De Havilland Puss Moth by Stevens shows the G-ACAB aircraft ‘Desert Cloud’ that Amy Johnson flew, and it looks to me like her flight helmeted face that features in the titling, and continues to appear on subsequent early kits.

At that time the aviation community was still relatively small. Stevens and Holladay were right in the thick of it. Many famous personalities agreed to honorary enrollment in the Skybird League organized by Holladay to publicise and support the range. W.E.Johns of ‘Biggles’ fame, A.V.Roe, Geoffrey De Havilland, Amy Johnson and C.W.A. Scott, winner of the MacRobertson England-to-Australia Air Race all accepted Honorary Membership.

Holladay’s proudest memory of his Skybird venture was that many of his Skyleaguers, with his encouragement, joined the Air Training Corps from 1941 to become part of the backbone of RAF aircrew from 1941 to 1945. At the end of this period there were 18,000 Skyleaguers enrolled, which gives a measure of Skybirds popularity.

James Opie

More details on the lots available, including nearly all the pictures, at www.the-saleroom.com. They are also hoping to offer (being completed at time of press-release) an online ‘flick-through’ version of the catalogue on the C & T website www.candtauctions.co.uk.

More information

Thanks to Mr Opie for article and images.