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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1308.PDF
8 May 1959 635 TWO AIR TESTS BY MARK LAMBERT: — 2: Handling the Tipsy Nipper GOING aviating in a small way need not necessarily be afrustrating experience. It most certainly is not so in theTipsy Nipper. At Kidlington recently, the Belgian test pilot Bernard Neefs threw the little aircraft about most excitinglydespite a very strong wind and made a considerable impression. I myself had a chance to fly it from White Waltham a few dayslater, on a sunny, blustery day which would try any ultra-light. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The aircraft has fighter-likemanoeuvrability, is fully aerobatic and has a very respectable 90 m.p.h. cruising speed. You sit snugly inside the little beast asit snarls its way around the sky, steep-turning on a pin-head and looping about its wing-tips. On the ground, you drive it likea scooter; and it is said that landings have been made in ploughed fields. Best news of all is that Fairey are embarking on a batch of 50 inBelgium and that Fairey Aviation Ltd. are preparing to market the aircraft in Britain. It should sell here for under £1,000. Manydifferent scales of kit will also be available. Preliminaries for my flight from White Waltham consisted ofan external inspection, cockpit check, engine warm-up and some taxying. A walk round with Fairey test pilot John Mortonbrought various structural features to light. The 19ft 8 in wing is based on a wooden main spar with plywood-covered leading-edgeand fabric aft. The ailerons are attached on the simplest hinges, the gaps here and at the elevator being sealed by glued-on stripsof fabric. Wing-tips are cut off square with the minimum fuss and there appears to be no wash-out. Aspect ratio is 4.8, mean aero-dynamic chord 4ft ljin and dihedral 5.5 deg. The fuselage is a welded steel-tube carcass clothed with woodand fabric aft while glass-plastics mouldings form engine cowling, propeller spinner and the under-fuselage forward. The light-alloy fuel tank, ahead of the cockpit, forms part of the skin. The tank holds sufficient for 310 miles with 30 min reserve. A conventional bungee-sprung, A-frame main undercarriagehas an llin travel and carries two small, self-lubricating wheels fitted with dainty little disc brakes. The single discs are in factheld well clear of the hub by a number of bolts; and braking AVIONS FAIREY TIPSY NIPPER (HEPU Volkswagen giving 40 h.p.) Span, 19ft 8in; length, 14ft 9in; empty weight, 360 Ib; gross weight, 660 Ib; wing area 80.5 sq ft; max. speed, 100 m.p.h.; cruising speed, 90 m.p.h.; take-off run, 110 yd; landing run, 130 yd; landing speed 36 m.p.h.; range, with 30 min re- serve, 310 miles; normal fuel, 7.5 Imp. gaf. energy is applied by diminutive calipers operated by cable froma bicycle brake-grip on the top of the control column. The nose- wheel is of the same size and permanently connected through aspring to the rudder pedals to provide steering on the ground. Virtually no maintenance is required and adjustments should beextremely easy to make. The HEPU Volkswagen engine, though fitted with single ignition, has been tested and approved by theWest German authorities. A little German Hoffmann wooden propeller is fitted. Cockpit arrangements are exceptionally good. The single-piecedear-view canopy opens and shuts firmly and easily, does not rattle and seems to let in no draughts. The pilot sits on a mouldedplywood seat with ample leg-reach to a pair of rather narrow rudder pedals. The stick is well placed and full lateral movementcan be obtained without more than touching an average thigh. In flight no interference is noticed. A most attractive feature is theextra lateral space afforded by extending the cockpit into each wing-root so that the elbows can be spread or propped. The"floor" of these little compartments is transparent, giving a clear view of the wheels and beyond. Visibility aU round is obstructedonly in the directly rearward direction by the narrow fuselage and sideways by the wing. The ground can be seen 10ft ahead of thenose. Interior furnishing is surprisingly plushy, and there seem to be no sharp edges to bark the knuckles. One climbs into the Nipper by depressing a light-alloy flap inthe back of the port wing-root. A step in this panel allows one to climb up into the cockpit, keeping the weight of the body wellforward to avoid tipping the aircraft back onto its tail-skid. After entering, the flap is hooked up into its spring stop with the toe.Full shoulder harness is provided and there is a small "slit trench" behind the low back-rest to accommodate an overnight bag. The main spar passes through the fuselage over the pilot's knees.A.S.I. (in km/hr), altimeter (single-pointer in metres), engine rpm. and liquid compass are above this, while the magneto switchand oil pressure gauge are on the right shelf and oil temperature gauge to the left. Both gauges are car instruments. The tension of a small spring at the base of the control column • .ignf" photograph The Tipsy Nipper, photographed from "Flight's" Gemini, with Bernard Neeh at the controls. The Nipper cruises at 90 m.p.h. and is aerobatic can be varied by a clip-and-ratchet system further up to applysome spring bias to the elevator. In fact this is hardly required and serves mainly to make fine adjustments for hands-off cruising.Trim changes are in any case very small and the control forces very light. The throttle lever, without friction nut, is mountedon the port shelf. There is no mixture control. Engine starting is by priming with the throttle through theaccelerator pump while the propeller is being turned. A few twiddles with a strong hand close to the propeller hub producethe required noise. Minimum take-off oil temperature is 40 deg, but the gauge reads only from 50 deg upwards. With singleignition, magneto checks are pointless. No trim setting is required. It remains only to release the little catch holding the brakes onand the Nipper is ready to take off. It was a long way from the apron to the take-off point near thecaravan, so John Morton told me to taxi around a bit to get the feel and then take off along the apron, towards the western hangar.I opened up the little engine and started driving around as if the Nipper were a scooter. It turned very tighdy and could be exactlysteered. As the brakes were not set to give maximum retardation it was easier to turn away from an obstacle than to try to stop.After weaving around among the parked aircraft, I lined up for the take-off past the hangars. It went perfectly, with precisecontrol until I raised the nosewheel very slowly, in readiness to unstick. Then the aircraft suddenly jumped ten feet into the airand I had to hold it down. It felt as if, in the final few degrees of raising the nose, the e.g. suddenly passed behind the main wheelsto launch me into the air. I imagine I was a bit hasty in getting off, but the Nipper felt quite ready and remained definitelyairborne afterwards. Climbing away in a rough wind I soon realized that I had quiteexceptional manoeuvrability and control, with very light stick forces. Once accustomed to the strong turbulence, I found theNipper was quite stable. Cruising at 500m, I checked neutral stability on the ailerons and ample rudder control. Reversingturns with feet off the rudder bar produced virtually no adverse yaw. Longitudinal stability was not easy to check because theNipper was trimmed nose-heavy at the moderate speed at which I first flew. Visibility was good except where the wings intruded;and at this blind spot the little underside windows were very helpful. The lateral shelves also formed an excellent writing deskand stowage for notebook and pen. A few normal turns proved pleasant and I tried steep turns.Speed fell off fairly rapidly to 85 km/hr but the Nipper fairly spun round with the inboard wingtip apparently moving backwardsover the ground below. Normal cruising r.p.m. are 3,200, but the engine can be run at full bore the whole time without straininganything. The noise level is fairly high, but the speed builds up well to the advertised 90 m.p.h. The Nipper is then very stableand I let it fly itself in bumpy air while I wrote a whole page of notes. I stalled it out of a steep turn and found only a little shake backtowards level flight at a relatively high g value. Straight stalls were remarkable—just a brief jerk of the nose down to the horizonand no further. Though I held the stick hard back I had complete aileron and rudder control the whole time. At 3,000 r.p.m. thenose rose so high wiuiout a trace of a stall that forward vision was blotted out by the wing. Power-off stalling speed was 40 km/hrLAS. and there was plenty of control in hand to make sharp pull-ups at the very last moment. The Nipper is exceptionallytolerant to high g close to the stall. At low speeds there is pro- nounced adverse yaw when aileron is applied. By now I felt real confidence and climbed quickly to 1,000m (Concluded at foot of p. 652)
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