This Sparking Rocket Fighter toy by manufacturer Louis Marx & Co. was produced in 1947 as a part of the toymaker's popular line of playthings featuring spaceships and characters from Buck Rogers. Using the wind-up key on the left rear side allowed the winged space vehicle to scoot across the floor via a friction motor that also activated sparks and a shooting sound (which could be controlled with the on/off lever).

Buck Rogers first appeared in the pulp magazine Amazing Stories in August 1928 as Anthony Rogers in Philip Francis Nowlan’s story “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” Knocked unconscious, the blond hero awakened in the 25th century to find America under attack from “Mongol” hordes, a reflection of contemporary anxiety about Asian immigration.

National Newspaper Service president John F. Dille saw a potential comic strip—with one small change. Renamed “Buck Rogers,” Nowlan’s strip (illustrated by Dick Calkins) debuted in 1929, followed by a color Sunday strip in 1930 and a radio program in 1932. Licensed toys came on the market in the 1930s and remained popular. To create this toy inexpensively, Louis Marx & Co. created new lithography for its Buck Rogers Rocket Police Patrol car from 1934.

Collector Michael O'Harro donated this toy to the Museum in 1993.