I just saw an Ebay auction where the seller stated his Plainsman was manufactured by Goodenow.I want to put this bit of misinformation to rest at least among Airgun Hobbyist.Challenger Plainsman was never manufactured by Goodenow!!! Earl Goodenow was simply a enterprising entrepreneur who helped liquidate the remaining Plainsman stock in 1954 when Athearn stopped production later that year. Goodeow was incapable of manufacturing anything at the time, let alone a air gun.Goodenow and Johnson Smith the novelty company liquidated the remaining Challenger Plainsman stock . More details regarding this will be in my book covering these guns.The amount of misinformation regarding the early history of American airguns is staggering.
DW, I'm looking forward to your book. IMHO 1947-49 was the golden age of American airguns. There was the big 3, but beyond that minor makes that made lasting innovations, much like the auto industry at the time. Interested in learning the facts. Hopefully you'll touch on Winsel CO2 pistols. Looking at the design it appears at least somebody from Rochester Precision Air Rifle was involved there...
Found quite a few tidbits about Hy-Score history. Fortunately this is not one of the toughies like Winsel. Other real tough manufacturers to find information on include Brown, Marvel, Eastern Engineering, Targ-Aire, Ranco, Vincent and Paul.Regarding Hy-Score's revival. If you consider a new manufacturer carrying on a prior companies line of products a revival, then Airgun history is full of revivals.