At-a-glance information:

This is a wonderful toy that I never had or even knew about as a kid, but saw and decided to purchase as an adult. It is an interesting toy, and considered one of the best of the late fifties/early sixties.

The neat thing about this item is that it would have made a great gift for a child, as well as for any aviation aficionado. A great way to explain to children the principles of aircraft movement and basic control.

On this toy, the airplane is supported by a girder underneath. The plane's roll and pitch angles are controlled by turning the steering wheel or pushing up or down on one of the wheels, allowing the whole console to rotate slightly and affecting a change in pitch for the airplane on top.

Twin throttle controls are placed in the center, and pushing them upwards increases the speed of the engines. Each handle controls a set of engines, one for right wing, the other for left. The sound of the engines going is almost unearthly.

Further controls drop the landing gear, as well as turn on and off and flash the wingtip lights.

	One of the odd things about the Flying Fox is that its size is misleading. When I first saw a picture of it, I imagined the console to be something like the Remco Pan Am Jet Cockpit. It is much smaller in scale. The cockpit control wheels are very narrow, making them small for even a 5 year old to use.
	Plane is nicely detailed with simulated operating surfaces and rivets. Some of these toys have experienced slight yellowing of the plastic, as mine has. Others seem to have retained the color but are missing the decals, perhaps to original rough play. All decals exist here.
	Press on the link below to hear the bizarre 'engine noises' that this thing puts out. You cannot appreciated the volume and uncomfortable pitch of the motors until you hear one of these in person!
	Here are some of the dial instruments. On each side is a 'turn indicator' which does move side to side with plane roll movements.   The lower instruments are decals.
	Throttle controls have a wonderful clicking sensation to them as you move them forward.
	Here is a close up of the light controls. Each long lever, when pulled up, turns on a red wingtip light. Pushing the center control down causes light to flash with every push.
	By pushing down or pulling up, the entire console moves to simulate diving or climbing.
	Moving this lever under the tail lowers the landing gear!

The underside of this mechanism is shown here. Disregard the tan band shown strapped to the metal rod. That is a rubber band being used to help hold the batteries in.

Another view of the console

Both wheels are connected and move with one another.

Here is some detail on the wingtip light. These bulbs are the screw in type.

This shows you some detail on the decal

Other interesting notes:

Most of these are missing the battery door. It is a bit of a challenge to fabricate one for this particular toy.

Bottom of case indicates that motors and light bulbs are from Japan. Mabuchi motors perhaps?

Take me back home