Thunderbirds first began in the 1960’s and is one of the few toys out there that has stood the test of time. It all started as a TV series which was first aired in the UK in 1965 and has since brought a whole range of toys which every child wanted to get their hands on.

Let’s take a look back at what made Thunderbird toys so great.

Thunderbirds – The History

Thunderbirds first began as a TV show, showing for the first time in the UK in 1965. This show would later progress into a number of films and toys. The characters were puppets that were built by head puppeteer Christine Glanville and her four-person team. The puppets were made up of around 30 different parts and each had a changeable head to show different facial expressions including a smile, a blink and a frown.

The show followed Jeff Tracy and his five sons; Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon and Alan who all lived on their own private island, Tracy Island. With Jeff’s previous profession being an astronaut, they formed a ‘International Rescue’ service which was dedicated to rescuing and saving the lives of humans. Each son had a vehicle which would aid them in their missions which were called ‘Thunderbirds’.

Each Thunderbird had a different purpose and were captained by each of the brothers. Other characters included Jeff Tracy’s mother, an engineer called Brains, Kyrano a servant and his daughter Tin Tin who also served as Brains’ assistant and of course Lady Penelope who was also employed by the International Rescue.

Thunderbirds Overview

If you didn’t already know, there are five Thunderbirds in total, all specialising in different areas across land and sea. These were all available in toy format and every child in the 60’s and 70’s had their favourite. Here is a low down of each Thunderbird and what made them so fab:

• Thunderbird 1 – A green rocket plane. This was piloted by Scott and was used to respond to emergencies in quick time. Thunderbird 1 was launched from a secret hanger which was located under the family swimming pool.

• Thunderbird 2 – Piloted by Virgil, Thunderbird 2 was a green aircraft carrier that was stored behind a series of rocks that would open out on demand and allowed the brothers to carry large cargo to disaster scenes.

• Thunderbird 3 – A red spacecraft piloted by Alan and John which was predominantly used for space rescues as well as keeping an eye on Thunderbird 5 (we’ll get to that in a moment), which was launched from underneath the house.

• Thunderbird 4 – A yellow submarine which is piloted by Gordon. Thunderbird 4 slotted into Thunderbird 2 and was launched out to sea whenever necessary.

• Thunderbird 5 – A Space Station. Where the Thunderbirds would monitor on the world and report emergency situations form.

Tracy Island

The most sought-after toy from the Thunderbirds collection was Tracy Island, the home of Jeff Tracy and his sons. In 1991, the original Tracy Island toy was produced. The Tracy Island play set included movable parts that made way for the individual Thunderbirds just like the TV show. There was also sounds that mirrored the sounds made by each Thunderbird.

In 1992 there was a shortage of Tracy Island toys in the run up to Christmas due to BBC2 showing old episodes of the show. This was a huge manufacturing error that the children’s show Blue Peter jumped on. Blue Peter produced a segment on their show which demonstrated how you could build your own Tracy Island, which went down extremely well with an overwhelming amount of people requesting the instruction sheets.

Where are the Thunderbirds now?

In 2015 a new Tracy Island play set came onto the market which includes up-to-date features, including over 50 action sounds and wearable International Rescue communicator (that could be attached to your wrist). This can still be bought for around £50 at certain stores. You can also still buy the individual Thunderbird vehicles which tend to come in pairs for around £20.

What about the TV show? Well, in 2013 ITV announced the production of a Thunderbirds remake named ‘Thunderbirds are go’ which went on to air in 2015 and used a mixture of CGI and scale model miniature effects (ditching the old puppet style) and turning them into a more cartoon look. There are currently three series of the new show with the third series only recently being aired, in March this year.

So, it appears that the Thunderbirds are still out there, they’re just not as easy to find!

Check out our Thunderbird Collection