Toy, Gun, Air Ray, Flash Gordon

This Flash Gordon Air Ray gun with a sparking flint disc in the muzzle was advertised as "the most amazing toy of the atomic age!" According to the toy's descriptions, it could shoot "a whizzing jet of air 20 feet with amazing accuracy." And yet, it was "safe as the air you breathe, and as inexpensive, since it requires no ammunition." Manufactured by the Budson Company of Chula Vista, California, the toy capitalized on the popularity of the Flash Gordon character.

Fictional space heroes often carried space-themed versions of the Western's ever-present six-shooter or rifle. As a result, for several generations, pretend gun play with ray gun toys formed a central part of many children's imagined space adventures. Exactly how one blasted space enemies often reflected the newest technologies. In the late 1940s, "atomic" guns proliferated. "Laser" guns followed the creation of the practical laser in 1960.

Michael O'Harro gave this toy to the National Collection in 1993, as a part of a large collection of space science fiction objects.