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It wasn’t long after the invention of the plane that the first toy planes started to be produced. To begin with, they were hand-crafted from wood or metal, and hand-painted to resemble the planes of the time, whether it was the original Wright Brothers plane, the first passenger planes, or Second World War fighter jets.

The toys were a hit straight away, both with children whose imaginations had been captured by real planes and adults who were amazed at the invention. It was not uncommon for a gentleman of the time to keep his toy planes in a glass display case for visitors to look at, especially if he had been in one of the wars or made his money from the aviation industry.

The First and Second World Wars were fought largely with planes, and both did a lot to increase their fame. Suddenly, the world seemed to be all about planes – war was being done with them, business was being done with them. Anyone with any money, fame or power was travelling by plane. It is hardly surprising that planes took on a mixture of glamour and heroism, which boosted their popularity as a toy immensely.

By the 1950s, toy planes were an established item, and were starting to go into mass-production. These new, cheaper toys were available to more people than ever before, and their popularity has endured ever since. As plastics became available, toy planes could be mass-manufactured even more cheaply, and more imaginative designs started to take over from the ultra-realistic ones of the past.

Today, toy planes are a hobby that is still enjoyed worldwide by both kids and adults. There are many different kinds of toy planes: there are mass-manufactured plastic planes, hand-painted planes, planes that you can make from kits, remote controlled planes that really fly, and much more besides.

John Gibb is the owner of