Flying Smurf is a character that only appeared in the comics and in The Smurfs Village game. Flying Smurf must be one of a handful smurfs that never appeared in the cartoon series and for that reason alone, makes it extra special. It should also be noted that the figurine was never produced for the USA market.
The story of Flying Smurf is a delightful story upon where a Smurf becomes determined to fly after seeing the advantages birds have by being able to fly. Along the way he tries several ways to fly, for example stealing feathers from a chook and sticking the feathers on his arms, using a hot air balloon, eating some yeast mixture. Eventually he found a way to make himself extraordinary light that he could float but the problem came that he was unable to come down. After using a lasso the smurfs were able to tie him down and made him eat bricks to keep him from flying away. Luckily for us, the smurf decided to get assistance from Handy Smurf, who built him a big wooden mechanical airplane.
Flying Smurf was first produced by Bully around 1973. Like a lot of early smurfs produced by Bully, you may be lucky enough to find one made out of a very soft material and with the arms held higher
Around 1976/77 Bully changed the mould for Flying Smurf with it’s arms more horizontal and out of a harder pvc material.
Schleich made Flying Smurf up until 1986, giving it reference number 20071. At some point Schleich produced Flying Smurf for the Belgium Airline Sabena. Sabena was the national airline carrier for Belgium between 1923 to 2001. This is considered extremely hard to find.
It has never been officially explained why Flying Smurf was never produced as part of the cartoon series or as a figurine in the USA. Some say it had something to do with the potential of children attempting their own ways to fly and causing harm to themselves. If that is the case, that is a little sad as the story is more about determination than actual flying.
Keep on Smurfin
Kath B