Paul K. Guillow, Inc.

Lore & Background

Paul K. Guillow, a naval aviator during World War I, returned from Europe with an interest in aviation-related toys. He graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and founded the company in 1926 as NuCraft Toys. Among the earliest products were a card game called The Lindy Flying Game (1927) and a board game called Crash: The New Airplane Game (1928). After Charles Lindbergh's 1927 transatlantic flight, a craze for aeronautical items swept America, and Guillow's capitalized by introducing a line of balsa wood model kits. The first line consisted of twelve different World War I biplane fighters with six-inch wingspans, retailing for 10 cents each. Each kit contained a three-view plan, balsa wood cement, two bottles of colored aircraft dope, and a strip of bamboo for struts. In 1933, demand enabled the company to move from the family barn into its present-day location in Wakefield.

During World War II, balsa wood was diverted to the war effort for rafts and life jackets, forcing Guillow's to use cardboard or pine. The company also diversified into building target drone aircraft as training aids. After the war, it shifted emphasis from stick-and-tissue kits to mass production of inexpensive hand-launched gliders and rubber band-powered toy planes. In 1948, Paul Guillow applied for a U.S. patent for a model airplane glider designed for easy assembly and instruction; the patent was granted in 1952 to his wife Gertrude. After Guillow's death in 1951, Gertrude expanded and modernized the company until her retirement in 1980. In 1953, the company introduced a line of mass-produced, simple, inexpensive balsa gliders packaged by high-speed machinery.

In the 1990s, Guillow's acquired competitors Tiger, Inc. of Los Angeles and Comet of Chicago. Tiger specialized in promotional flying toys imprinted with company names and graphics, and Comet was a direct competitor in balsa kits and gliders. Tiger manufactured glider toys made of foam, a product type Guillow's still produces. In recent years, the company converted to laser cutting of balsa parts, increasing accuracy and ease of assembly.

Reader's Guide

Guillow's significance lies in its enduring role as a manufacturer of accessible model aircraft, bridging the gap between simple toys and serious scale modeling. The company's product line includes dozens of inexpensive slide-together balsa gliders and rubber band-powered airplanes, as well as more complex stick-and-tissue scale models. Approximately 40 percent of business comes from simpler glider and airplane toys sold through hobby shops and retail stores, 30 percent from complicated scale model kits, and 30 percent from promotional flying toys printed with advertising messages. Product offerings include highly detailed models such as the 1903 Wright Flyer with a 20-inch wingspan and the B-24 D Liberator with a 48½-inch wingspan, the company's largest model. Toy balsa gliders are often used in physics classes to teach aerodynamics, including Bernoulli's theorem. In 1999, an article in the American Journal of Physics presented a quantitative analysis of the Guillow Super-Ace, which weighed 3.51 grams and sold for $1.99 at that time. The company's legacy includes adapting from barn-based production to modern laser cutting, and surviving wartime material shortages by diversifying into target drones and alternative materials.

Did You Know?

• Paul K. Guillow was a naval aviator during World War I and later graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
• During World War II, Guillow's built target drone aircraft as training aids for gunners.
• In 1999, the Guillow Super-Ace balsa glider was the subject of a quantitative analysis in the American Journal of Physics.