z editorial: aTC TOYS & GAMES z Photo: One of the LEGO sets featuring a (fully equipped) futuristic tower design
ATC TOYS & GAMES z by Philip Marien, IFATCA Communications Coordinator Despite the fact that air traffic control remains quite obscure for the general public, several companies have brought out ATCthemed games and toys over the years. In this article, we’ll look at some of these.
Tin Wind-Up Toys
West German company Schopper produced a wind-up toy in the late 1960s and early 1970s featuring an airport tower.
The wind-up mechanism rotated three propeller aircraft around the tower. Far more impressive was a Soviet made airport that featured hangars and a terminal/tower building. Again, using a wind-up mechanism, a single aircraft would fly circles around
the airport – not around the tower like its loopy German counterpart. The airplane could be made to go up and down (take-off and land), but it could also do some loops in the circuit. The tower itself featured a flashing light on top, making for an impressive (and no doubt quite exclusive) toy in the U.S.S.R.
z Photos: (above/left) German-made wind up tower (above/right) Soviet-era airport with control tower. Notice the light beacon on top
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THE CONTROLLER
