WW2 aircraft recognition models.

My Grandpa was a recognition and gunner instructor officer back in WWII and he had all of the hard rubber ones. My dad and his brothers broke them all playing with them. He also had all the cards and books, and there was a Navy magazine that was dedicated to recognition that he had. I now have all of the other stuff but would have loved to had the oppertunity to get my hands on those models though.

Thanks, guys.

Hey, Don

Both versions sound feasible to me.  I remember from junior high woodshop class, everyone was encouraged (required?) to make at least one.  The teacher cut out the 2-dimensional outlines from wood stock, and the students shaped, assembled and painted them black.  Most guys chose Spitfires and 109s, but I drew a TBD, since my dad worked for Douglas.  He did most of the work on it, but it failed the accuracy test (no dihedral) and was rejected.  That suggests that these models were used for their stated purpose, at least for a while.  That was around 1942, IIRC.

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My dad had a number of them from years ago, but lost track of them. The black ones.

I do have two very rough castings though. Both are sand castings made using the "rubber" model as an original pattern, and cast in what I am sure is scrap aircraft magnesium or aluminum.

They were bought from a craftsman in Italy, late 1944. If I had a LOT of time and energy, I'd clean them up. For now, they are interesting but rough.

Frog made them out of plastic ( I think) in England during WW2.

I did find references where modeling clubs did do group build efforts. Rings true to me.

I found one source that claims Collectaire made a series of wood models for that purpose, for hobbyists to assemble.

The Cruver Company in Chicago made a majority of the ones for the US, according to two sources I found. They were cast in cellulose acetate, which was a non-essential material. Their usual products were things like fountain pen barrels, buttons, eyeglass framews and such so I suppose it was a straightforward thing.