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Old 04-01-2019, 09:08 AM
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ashevilleangler ashevilleangler is offline
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Who Designed Wheaties Wings

These models pop-up from time to time on ebay claiming that they are Rigby models. While they are Rigby-like, they are not in fact, designed by Rigby. I know that at some point on this forum someone posted the name of the actual designer. Who was it?

Curt
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Old 04-01-2019, 10:14 AM
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It says Jack Armstrong on the model prints. Google comes up with a few.
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Old 04-01-2019, 05:29 PM
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Don't know who designed them, but Jack Armstrong was a radio show character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZZmTD1WOEc
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Old 04-01-2019, 06:38 PM
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Jack Armstrong was "The All American Boy" who was the symbol of Wheaties, The Breakfast of Champions, and so his name was used on the Wheaties airplanes.

This is the text of the label I use when I display my Wheaties models. I THINK this was my source: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...ties-132873198

During World War II, the General Mills company placed cardboard airplane models in boxes of Wheaties cereal . The models were designed by Fred D. Myers, using a tab and slot construction method also used by Wallis Rigby, who developed many paper models of ships, airplanes, automobiles, and other machines. Some of Rigby’s models appeared in the Sunday comic pages of American newspapers and remained popular into the 1950s.
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Old 04-02-2019, 08:15 AM
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ashevilleangler ashevilleangler is offline
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Don, you can always be counted in for great info! Thanks!

Apparently the Worthpoint listing used Charles Province as their information source.

Quote:
The following might be of interest for the collector :
Charles M. Province, Founder of the Rigby Paper Model Club
gives the following statement on his Rigby Homepage:

"The Truth About Those Wheaties Planes"
"I'm always searching for new information about Wallis Rigby. Sometimes discovering the truth is a great disappointment.
That is the case with the "Wheaties" planes. In an unfortunate turn of events, I recently came across some disturbing news concerning the "Wheaties Airplanes"
that were sold by General Mills during the World War II years.

The problem is that, quite simply stated, Mr. Rigby never designed them.
It makes me wonder how the "assumption" came about that Wallis Rigby did design them.
For decades I have sincerely believed, as have many others, that the Wheaties Planes were just another version
of Rigby's many and varied designs.

The real designer of the Wheaties Planes was Fred D. Myers. He created them specifically for the General Mills Company.
Other than these planes, however, I can find nothing more about Mr. Myers. He is a mystery man.
Now, I suppose, I'll have to start researching to find further information about him. Perhaps he deserves a website of his own.
Anyway, the truth is out and Rigby fans will simply have to accept it.
Because the original patent for the Wheaties Planes has long since elapsed, I will continue to offer them on this website as a tribute to Mr. Myers who has,
for decades, failed to receive the proper credit for his invention."
I do know that Charles is or has been a member of this forum. I would love to know what his information source was. The Rigby Paper Model Club website has been gone for awhile now.

Curt

Last edited by ashevilleangler; 04-02-2019 at 08:27 AM.
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Old 04-02-2019, 08:53 AM
rmks2000 rmks2000 is offline
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The Wayback Machine redirects the url from rigbypapermodels.com to rigbypapermodels.com I can't access it at the moment but someone else might.
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Old 04-02-2019, 09:13 AM
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Bob,

neither page is a functional website, it is a place holder, the domain is for sale
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Old 04-02-2019, 10:06 AM
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Many thanks, Curt. It is possible that Charles Province and the Rigby Club was actually the source of my information. I just can't pin it down (I am not always very well organized). I'm sorry to hear that it no longer has a web presence, but I am glad to add your Province quotation to my Wheaties files.

Don
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Old 04-02-2019, 10:37 AM
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To add to the confusion, I found this page. It’s the General Mills history blog run by the company.
It shows the Jack Armstrong plane as being a pre-assembled plane you could get after buying 2 boxes of Wheaties cereal.
Nothing on the other Wheatley’s planes:

https://blog.generalmills.com/2011/1...rplane-legacy/

JoeG
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Old 04-02-2019, 10:57 AM
rmks2000 rmks2000 is offline
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Thanks for trying Rick. I was blocked when I tried but the Wayback Machines said it was a current url and therefore not archived.
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