Ohio Art Automatic Airport (1950s)

Digital image download of an Ohio Art Automatic Airport (1950s).

3524 pixels wide, 300dpi. Image copyright Jim Bunte LLC.

Best remembered for Etch-A-Sketch, Ohio Art was and remains a prolific manufacturer of lithographed tin products – to this very day. If you remember mechanical tops – with free-spinning knobs mounted atop twisted push-rods to charge the internal clockwork mechanism – this toy should look familiar.

Using the same mechanicals, the Airport spins small tin-litho planes around the circular tower with great effect. Think aerodrome and you’ve got it, along with great period artwork.