Produced from 1914
Product number 240
Hand lacquered
Mechanism: Clockwork
Lenght plain approx. 16 cm / 6,3 inches
This toy depicts an aerial battle between a German plane called the Pigeon piloted by Von Richthofen (aka the Red Devil) and a French plane piloted by Adolphe Pégoud.
Working:
Photo 1 and 3: Under the winding key of the French plane you see a rod with a hook at the end to which the German plane is attached. The rod will slowly turn after winding the mechanism.
Photo 2: The hook at the end where the German plane is attached will now slowly turn around and at a certain point the hook of the German plane slides off and the German plane crashes down
These pictures above are with courtesy Frédéric Marchand, the toy is from the Paola Franzini & Liusa Dellanzo coll.
The plane is wound up and then both fly in circles, after a while the German plane falls down.
This film can be seen here (the action with the planes are at apprx. 40 sec. film) : https://www.fernandmartintoys.nl/martin-flersheim-toys-on-film/