Th Nipper was designed by Ernest Tips, an engineer with the Belgian Avions Fairey Company. His design criteria was to build a rugged, easy-lo-fly single-seat light aeroplane which could be produced or home built. Avions Fairey produced the Nipper in several marques up until 1962, by which time 78 had been built. Cobelavia (and later Nipper Aircraft) acquired rights to build the type in the United Kingdom and produced a further 30 examples. A number of one-off enhancements (often engine or range improvements) have since been made to operational examples.