The Avions Fairey Junior, also known as the Tipsy Junior was a single-seat light aircraft built in Belgium following World War II.
The Junior was one of a series of light aircraft designed by and named after E.O.Tips of Fairey Aviation's Belgian subsidiary, Avions Fairey. Of wood and fabric construction, it was a conventional, low-wing monoplane with a tailwheel undercarriage and a single seat, open cockpit, though there was the option of a bubble hood.[1] The constant chord wings were almost square ended and the tailplane, fin and rudder also angular. Both completed aircraft were initially powered by the 36 hp (27 kW) Aeronca JAP J-99 engine, later replaced by the more powerful, 62 hp (46 kW) Walter Mikron 2.
The Junior, registered OO-TIT, flew for the first time on 30 June 1947 from Gosselies in Belgium.[1]
The first Junior was written off after a hard landing in 1948.
The second example (construction number J.111, registration OO-ULA) was bought by Fairey and taken to England in 1953, where it was registered as G-AMVP. In 1957, it was used in a publicity stunt when Fairey test pilot Peter Twiss landed it on the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. For part of its time it had the bubble canopy. Rebuilt after a long time in storage following a forced landing in 1993, it flew again late in 2006.[2] It had a minor landing accident in 2008[3] but had a permit to fly until May 2009.[4]
The Junior did not sell, and the third airframe was cancelled before completion.It was purchased incomplete by Fairey in 1961 and has been under construction in the hands of a number of owners in the intervening years, but never finished.[2]