Cockspur releases a 1930s sportplane today, the little known Tipsy B.
I had seen pictures of Tipsys before but must admit before today I didn’t really know anything about it. I always assumed it was a British sport plane similar to a Miles or Chilton. When it is in fact a Belgian aircraft or at least a Belgian design. Ernest Oscar Tips was the manager of Avions Fairey, the Belgian subsidiary of Fairey which was set up in 1930 - 1931 to produce Fairey Firefly (the 1930s biplane) and Fox for the Belgian Air Force. When the production was underway Tips found the time to design his own aircraft, starting with two single seaters followed by the Walter Mikron II powered two-seat Tipsy B. The Tipsy B first flew in May 1937. In June 1937 the Tipsy Light Aircraft Company was established in Hanworth, England to build the Tipsy B under license. A total of 42 were built in four different versions.
Tipsy build eight aircraft of the open cockpit B variant and sixteen closed cockpit Bc. The Tipsy Light Aircraft Company build eighteen aircraft, all of them with an open cockpit. However, the British aircraft got modified, starting with the fourth production one. The wings were strengthened with washout at the tips, slots and flaps to improve the stall characteristics. Furthermore, it had a single elevator and an enlarged rudder and mass balanced control surfaces. The aircraft was renamed into the Tipsy Trainer. Starting with the ninth production aircraft the max takeoff weight was increased from 450 kg (992lb) to 544 kg (1,200lb) and the aircraft was renamed to the Tipsy Trainer I.
Of the 42 aircraft that were built at least five still exist. Four UK-build Trainers, of which one definitely still gets actively flown, two that might still be airworthy, but I couldn’t find any current info on and G-AFRV (the aircraft in the video) is on static display in Belgium. Of the Belgian-built aircraft only one survived and is on static display in a Swedish Museum.
The aircraft modeled by Cockspur is a UK-build Tipsy Trainer or Trainer I.
Cockspur really did a fantastic job on the visual model of the Tipsy with tons of details. All fasteners and screws are modeled and not just painted on. The fabric surfaces also have a lot of structure to them. The textures are fantastic too, but I would love to see a few more clean/restored versions added. The engine sounds are fantastic and really make you feel like you’re sitting behind a small British inverted straight four engine. The cockpit looks very nice too. I just think the gauges might be a little too high up on the panel, at least the turn and slip indicator. On a cockpit picture I’ve seen the gap to the glareshield is definitely bigger. The flight model overall feels great too, however it gets a bit strange if you try to spin it. But since spins are prohibited in the real one, I’m ok with that. One thing that definitely needs to be looked at is the Oil pressure gauge. From startup to shut down the gauge is maxed out!
Overall, I’m happy with the Tipsy. It’s great to have another little-known piece of aviation history represented in the sim. I think it’ll be perfect for low and slow exploration flights.
To get a first impression of the plane, here is a short video I made with it over Headcorn:
