Toy airplane and launcher

A toy airplane and launcher assembly comprising:

• a toy airplane having a fuselage with a front end portion and a rear end portion;
• a propeller shaft extending through the front end portion of said fuselage with said propeller shaft having an interior end located within said fuselage and exterior end located outside said fuselage at the front end portion thereof;
• a propeller mounted to said exterior end of said propeller shaft with said propeller and said propeller shaft being rotatable together;
• a winding shaft extending through the rear end portion of said fuselage with said winding shaft having an interior end located within said fuselage and an exterior end located outside said fuselage at the rear end portion thereof;
• a coupler head fixed to the exterior end of said winding shaft with said coupler head and said winding shaft being rotatable together, said coupler head having a forward face formed with a set of ratchet teeth;
• windable tensioning means extending within said fuselage between said interior end of said propeller shaft and said interior end of said winding shaft, said tensioning means being adapted to store energy when wound and to release its stored energy as it unwinds to rotate said propeller shaft and said propeller and thus to drive said toy airplane through the air;
• said tensioning means being wound by rotation of said coupling head and said winding shaft;
• clutch means on the rear end portion of said fuselage for allowing rotation of said coupler head in one direction to wind said tensioning means and to prevent rotation of said coupler head in the opposite direction to provide a fixed point of attachment of said tensioning means at the rear end portion of said fuselage as said tensioning means unwinds to spin said propeller, said clutch means comprising a grommet fixed to said rear end portion of said fuselage, said grommet having a rear face formed with a set of ratchet teeth, said grommet being provided with a central bore through which said winding shaft rotatably extends, said rear face of said grommet being positioned to bear against said forward face of said coupler head with the ratchet teeth on said faces meshing to provide for uni-directional rotation of said coupler head;
• a generally pistol-shaped launcher having a handle portion from which an elongated guide rod extends;
• mounting means on said airplane fuselage for slidably receiving said elongated guide rod of said launcher for mounting said toy airplane onto said launcher;
• latch means for releasably latching said toy airplane to said launcher when said guide rod is fully received by said mounting means;
• a winding coupler on said launcher with said winding coupler being rotatable and being configured to mate with said coupler head on said airplane when the winding coupler and coupler head are brought together so that rotation of said winding coupler causes said coupler head to rotate;
• said winding coupler being positioned on said launcher to be brought together with said coupler head on said airplane when said airplane is mounted on said launcher and releasably latched in place by said latch means;
• winding means on said launcher for selectively rotating said winding coupler and thereby rotating said coupler head to wind said tensioning means when said airplane is mounted and latched to said launcher and said coupler heads are mated together;
• and
• means for propelling said toy airplane off of said guide rod for flight upon release of said latch means,
• whereby the toy airplane can be mounted and releasably latched on the launcher and the winding means operated to rotate the mated winding coupler and coupler head and thereby wind the tensioning means, whereupon the latch means can be released to propel the toy airplane from the launcher and into the air for powered flight.