Tipsy B
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| 1937-built Tipsy B at the Schaffen-Diest (Belgium) rally in August 2009. Its registration incorporates the initials of its designer. | |
| Role | Two-seat sport aircraft |
| National origin | Belgium |
| Manufacturer | Avions Tipsy, Gosselies Aerodrome, Charleroi |
| Designer | Ernest Tips |
| First flight | 8 May 1937 |
| Number built | 42 |
The Tipsy B was a small sports two-seat monoplane designed by E.O.Tips, and built in both Belgium and the UK. A total of 42 was built, and a few are still flying.
Avions Fairey, the Fairey Aviation Company's Belgian subsidiary, was set up in 1930-1 to produce Fairey Fox and Firefly aircraft for the Belgian Air Force. Once production of the military aircraft was under way, its manager Ernest Oscar Tips found the time to design and build light aircraft of his own, first the single-seat Tipsy S and S.2 in 1935, then the two-seat Tipsy B. Although the latter was larger, the two aircraft types had much in common; both were single-engined low wing cantilever monoplanes, with wings that carried strong taper on their trailing edges. In detail, though, the planforms of the two aircraft were different. Both were built in Belgium by Avions Fairey and in the UK under licence.
The Tipsy B was a wooden framed machine, covered with a mixture of plywood and canvas. The wing was built around an I-section main spar at about one quarter chord and an auxiliary rear box spar. These spars were linked by a rigid diagonal pyramid bracing. Stressed plywood skin was used from the main spar forward, with the rest of the wing fabric covered over wooden ribs. The leading edge was almost straight, and the trailing edge straight but strongly forward swept except at the centre section. Differential ailerons were carried on the tapering section, so their hinge line was also strongly forward swept.
The fuselage was based on four spruce longerons, flat sided and plywood covered apart from a rounded decking. The depth of the decking behind the cockpit depended on whether the seating was open or closed. The Tipsy B had an open cockpit, with almost side-by-side seating in the sense that the seats were slightly staggered fore and aft to minimise fuselage width, with the left hand seat 8 in (200 mm) further forward. The Tipsy Bc had the same seat arrangement, but enclosed under a Rhodoid (cellulose acetate) canopy, faired into the fuselage rearwards by a much deeper decking. Some Tipsy Bs had an asymmetric windscreen formed out of a single Rhodoid sheet, with its free edge further forward on the left to match the displaced seating, but symmetric screens became common. Both seats were equipped with controls. The control column was on the mid-line between the seats, with a horizontal extension that could be rotated over either position. A 60 hp (45 kW) Walter Mikron four cylinder inverted in-line engine drove a two-bladed propeller.
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