The Tipsy Nipper T.66 is an

aerobatic Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aeroplane" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and gl ...

light aircraft A light aircraft is an aircraft that has a Maximum Takeoff Weight, maximum gross takeoff weight of or less.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 308. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. Light aircraft are use ...

, developed in 1952 by Ernest Oscar Tips of

Avions Fairey Avions Fairey was the Belgian-based subsidiary of the British Fairey Aviation that built aircraft for the Belgian government. It subsequently separated from the UK parent and became SONACA. History In the late 1920s, the ''Aéronautique Mil ...

Gosselies Gosselies (; ) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Charleroi, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowl ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. It was designed to be easy to fly, cheap to buy and cheap to maintain. It was designed for both factory production and home building. "Nipper" was the nickname of Ernest Tips' first grandchild. The first aircraft flew on 12 December 1957, with test pilot Bernard Neefs. It featured an open

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

and had a length of , a span of and a range of , extendable with tip tanks to .

Design and development

The aircraft has a welded steel tube

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

and

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

with a wooden and fabric covered wing,

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lift (force), lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters ...

and

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

. It weighs 165 kg without an engine. Early aircraft were equipped with a 40 hp Stamo

Volkswagen air-cooled engine The Volkswagen air-cooled engine is an Air-cooled engine, air-cooled, gasoline-fuelled, boxer engine with four horizontally opposed cast-iron cylinder (engine), cylinders, cast aluminum alloy cylinder heads and pistons, magnesium-alloy crankca ...

with later types using either 40 hp Pollman-Hepu or 45 hp Stark Stamo engines. More recently the

Jabiru 2200 The Jabiru 2200 is a lightweight naturally aspirated, pushrod four-stroke, flat four, air-cooled aircraft engine produced by Jabiru Aircraft. Design and development The conventional direct-drive engine is fitted with an alternator, silencers, ...

engine has been used.Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015–16'', page 120. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. Production was between 1959 and 1961 with

delivering 59 complete aircraft and 78 kits.

stopped production to make capacity available for F-104G Starfighter assembly for the Belgian Air Force. During 1962 the rights and a large assortment of uncompleted parts were sold to Cobelavia SA -Compagnie Belge d'Aviation, and they assembled 18 Nippers. The type was renamed as the Cobelavia D-158 Nipper. In June 1966 the license was sold to Nipper Aircraft Ltd at

Castle Donington Castle Donington is a market town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, on the edge of the National Forest and close to East Midlands Airport. Etymology The name 'Donington' means 'farm/settlement connected with Dunna'. Another su ...

and new Mk.III aircraft were built for them by Slingsby Sailplanes at

Kirkbymoorside Kirkbymoorside () is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is north of York; midway between Pickering and Helmsley, and on the edge of the North York Moors National Park. The parish had a population of 3,040 in the 20 ...

. Production was ended by the fire at Slingsby's in late 1968 and the subsequent bankruptcy. Several partly constructed Nippers were transferred to Castle Donington. In May 1971 Nipper Aircraft Ltd. stopped work and sold the license to a company called Nipper Kits and Components, a company that helps

home builders A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various pet, companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can b ...

with parts and plans.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011–12'', page 113. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011.

Operational history

In 2000, about 45 Nippers were still active, mostly in the UK. In 2010, 34 Nippers were registered with the British Civil Aviation Authority, where as of 2017, 19 remained.

Variants

;Tipsy Nipper T.66 Mk 1 :First production model, powered by a 30 kW (40 hp) Pollman-Hepu engine. Enclosed canopy. ;Tipsy Nipper T.66 Mk 2 :Second production model; as first but powered by a 33.5 kW (45 hp) Stark Stamo engine. ;Nipper Mk III :Slingsby-built for Nipper Aircraft normally with 1500 cc, 33.5 kW (45 hp) Rollason Ardem Mk X engines, 32 built. Tip tanks optional. ;Cobelavia D-158 Nipper :Production variant - 18 built

Specification (Mk.2)

References

* * * {{Slingsby aircraft 1950s Belgian civil utility aircraft 1960s British civil utility aircraft

Nipper Nipper ( – September 1895) was a British dog. He is best known as the subject of ''His Master's Voice'' (1898), painted posthumously by his second owner, Francis Barraud. The painting became a worldwide entertainment trademark, with Nip ...

Homebuilt aircraft Aerobatic aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Mid-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1957