Raymond Cuypers was born at Turnhout (Belgium) on March 25th, 1959 as the 4th son in a family of 10. When he saw his first Tipsy Nipper at a meeting in 1974 it was love at first sight. At the age of 17 he started to fly model aero planes. Some years later he moved to Antwerp and became a member of the Aviation Society. Nine years later Raymond entered a PPL course and bought his first aircraft, an Auster Arrow J2.
The first Tipsy Nipper came into his life when he bought OO-VAG in 1986. The only problem was he couldn't fly it because of his length. He was the founder of the Belgian Nipper Aircraft Club and in the following years he restored some Nippers. In 1992 he modified one in such a way he could fit himself into it. This makes him the tallest Nipper pilot with 1m98.
Raymond started his training as an aircraft mechanic in 1999 and in 2003 he founded his own company, Raymond's Aircraft Restoration (RAR). Certified by EASA, RAR is specialized in overhaul and maintenance of classic aircraft and has customers all over Europe.
Actually Raymond logged approximately 3.000 flying hours (mainly on tail draggers) on 38 different aircraft types amongst which the SV4, Fokker DRI and Ryan PT22 are his all time favorites. The least we can say is that Raymond is a true tailwheel fanatic!