well to me it appears its early WW2 era or earlier --the air force wing decal is of the type used in early WW2 when the air force was part of the "army" airforce or navy based aircraft carrier planes ---after WW2 the "airforce" became a seperate military branch of their own.
the red white and blue --design --red ball in white star within a blue circle -- was the us civilian and military marking back then --meant it was a us plane
the red ball design was dropped by the us military in may of 1942 to prevent mix ups with japanese planes who has the red "meatball" sign on them -- it was just a plain white star from then on .
with its long 2 man type cockpit area --pilot , gunner AND TWO 50 CAL FIRING FORWARD GUNS BY THE COCKPIT (PILOT) WITH 1 SWIVILING 30 CAL GUN IN THE REARit looks like a SBD Dauntless TYPE DIVE BOMBER MODEL TO ME.
It may be a Devastor though, I believe the Devastor had a full canopy of a plexiglass-type material for straight up and around viewing. And this find (with a partial metal canopy) may just be the only way this toy manufacturer could replcate the original.
Ivan;
Right you are; two facing forward versus just one. The SBD-3 Dauntless actually had two facing forward (50s) and two facing aft (30s). It was one of several variants of the original.
humm but upon father review --it might actally be * a brewster SB2A " BUCCANEER" -- it had two forward cowling type 50 cals --one 30 cal mounted each wing --with 1 rear firing gun ( british varient called the burmuda MK 1)-- two in the american type --EARLY WW2 WAR PLANE --SORRY BIT OF JUNK HOWEVER.
As a fifty year old guy who has studied ww2 planes all his life, to me, it doesnt fit any "real" plane, but more of a generic "warplane".It does slightly resemble an SBD dauntless, because of the bent wings, but my first impression was more of say a p-36 hawk, the predeccessor to the p-40. The dauntless and devastator had squared noses , and the canopies are wrong for any type of "real" plane, but being as it was a toy,some variations occured,because it had to be toughly made.Is it pressed tin, or steel? If it isn't a copy, I would date it to around 1936 to 1945. The markings are correct for up until 1942, as another poster mentioned.Does it look like it may have had a nose part (cowling) that is missing? Very cool little plane, in any case !