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 1/72nd.
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 1/72nd 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 1/72nd 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.
