Tipsy Trainer

Ernest Oscar Tips was the creator, general manager and designer of the Belgian subsidiary Avions Fairey established at the Gosselies airfield (today Brussels South Charleroi) in 1931. His desired two-seater Tipsy B was powered by the Czechoslovak inverted four-cylinder engine Walter Mikron, hence the aircraft offered a commercial chance for both the Belgian and the Czechoslovak air industries. The war caused the end of its production both in Belgium and in the UK. The modified British version with aerodynamic improvements was presented as Tipsy Trainer or Tipsy Trainer I. The exhibited Tipsy Trainer I was produced in 1939, crashed in 1979. It was acquired by the Belgian Royal Army Museum in 1989 and reconstructed by 2010. It is exhibited next to the post-war Tipsy Belfair (G-AFRJ) fitted with an enclosed canopy.