Old Mechanical Airplane "Game"

[jhd]

Back in about the mid-1970s, I would often accompany my Grandfather to the local airport to drop-off/meet his friends and relatives. One of the highlights for me was playing this coin-op "game".

 

There was no obvious objective or score, but the player used the two control levers to "fly" a small model plane. The playfield was roughly about 3" in diameter, covered by a clear plastic dome of about the same height. The model plane was connected to a metal rod, and it could move freely in all directions. There was some scenery to interact with inside the dome; I can recall model trees (that would spring back up when hit).

 

It was clearly aimed at entertaining small children. One quarter provided for several minutes of play. It was gone from the airport by about 1980.

 

Does anybody else remember such a thing?

[racerx]

Something like the old Chopper games?

 

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=17270

[+save2600]

^. That's the one I remember... hard to envision something with only a 3" PF though.

[BigO]

Yeah, I assume the OP meant 3', not 3".

Then again, a 3" playfield could explain why not many people have seen this machine.

 

I like electromechanical arcade games. Sure can't find anything about an airplane with a quick search.

Edited October 31, 2015 by BigO

[BigO]

I played this in Vegas' Pinball Hall of Fame and took these shots earlier this year. it does have two levers and a flying vehicle. It's from '68.

Other than the score, objective, scenery/trees, subject matter and enclosure shape, it's an exact match to the OP's description.

 

Edited October 31, 2015 by BigO

[RJ]

I recall something similar to this in the Museum of Science & Industry while visiting Chicago some yrs ago. It was near a replica of a jet fuselage or the Space Shuttle, dont recall which. Is there an "Aeronautics" wing of the museum? It was on an upper floor.

[SoundGammon]

We had a couple of these where I used to work years ago, but they had a helicopter and little "mountains" with the sensors on top to touch.

 

A lot more than this one. You had to fly up-down-back and forth to touch the sensor before time would run out.

 

Very challenging!

[jhd]

Thanks; both of the examples are very close, but not identical to what I recall. There may have been a scoring system that I was unaware of; I was only about 6 or 7 years old at the time.

 

The playfield was indeed about 3 feet in diameter, and I am quite certain that it was round/dome-shaped rather than square.

[ledzep]

I played this in Vegas' Pinball Hall of Fame and took these shots earlier this year. it does have two levers and a flying vehicle. It's from '68.

Other than the score, objective, scenery/trees, subject matter and enclosure shape, it's an exact match to the OP's description.

 

SpacePilot1.jpgSpacePilot2.jpg

 

I played one of those at the first annual Arcade Expo in Banning, California -

 

http://www.arcadeexpo.com/

 

The next one is in January, it seems. The place is a permanent pinball museum but they have a separate large room where they had all the arcade video games but also an area for all the elctro-mechanical games like this Space Pilot game. They also had the chopper game and I'm certain there was one with a biplane that you had to pilot around flying over and under obstacles. The had other games, too, like one that had a missile launcher truck that would fire up at waves of bombers flying overhead. The truck was a physical part of the game, the bombers and the launched missiles were optical. Great old-school games, I recommend that expo highly.

[BigO]

 

I played one of those at the first annual Arcade Expo in Banning, California -

 

http://www.arcadeexpo.com/

 

The next one is in January, it seems. The place is a permanent pinball museum but they have a separate large room where they had all the arcade video games but also an area for all the elctro-mechanical games like this Space Pilot game. They also had the chopper game and I'm certain there was one with a biplane that you had to pilot around flying over and under obstacles. The had other games, too, like one that had a missile launcher truck that would fire up at waves of bombers flying overhead. The truck was a physical part of the game, the bombers and the launched missiles were optical. Great old-school games, I recommend that expo highly.

If I were retired, I'd probably be building one of these things right now.