Flying Tipplers and the Competition FlyerAdrian A. Jessop – FTA Secretary/Treasurer

- written 1967

When I received the August 1967 issue of thePigeon World, the cover picture immediately caughtmy eye. It was a picture of three flying tipplers (?)that had a fine flying record and had done 16 hrs.These were all black and badge marked birds.

If we look back to any of the earlier writings ontipplers you will find that the original FlyingTipplers had two mainattributes. One beingtheir colour and a highpleasurable flying stylefor long times, but notthe long hours of today.Sixteen and eighteenhours not beinguncommon. To hear meout on this, I would liketo make reference tocertain authorities whohad this to say:

E.R. Ball, 1960 – Thenew strain of Tippler Ihave consists of blues,blacks, black whiteflights, blue white flights,black badges, in fact Icould put in my rollercoop and it would be hard to tell them apart. Theseare the descendants of the last of the West ofEngland Tumblers, and when crossed back to theblues and blacks produce the birds they are flyingoversees today. This is a fact saying they are notpure Tipplers.

W. T. Kern, 1962 – The subject of correspondencein the S.U.T.&T.S. of England was classified in twocategories. Just plain Tippler and Tumbler. Theformer comprising of Light and Dun Prints, RedMottles and Prints, Grays and Bronze, colour ratherthan shape signifying the difference of the breeds,mindful that all Tipplers more or less derived fromTumblers. The Tumbler as referred to was a non-performing flyer mainly known as SheffieldCrossbreds. Reds, blacks, blues, badges, oddities,white flights and any odd colour that cropped up.

They eventually proved the hardiest flyer, and stilltop the flying list today.

Wm. Hoffman – “The Flying Tippler, as the nameimplies, and always has been essentially a flying orworking breed. In its early years it was valuedchiefly for it’s great elevation of flight and it’sability to remain longer on the wing than some of

the other highflyingbreeds. As the sport ofcompetition flying gainedin popularity the longerflying times weredemanded of the birds,many of the old typeswere found to beunsuitable due todifficulty of control,lightness of the build andthe lack of the factorknown variously as“heart”, “guts” or the willto fly. In order toovercome such deterrentsto longest times,outcrosses into otherflying breeds wereresorted to, and thesecrosses frequently

produced a pigeon that, while capable of flyingmore hours than it’s ancestors on the Tippler side ofthe cross were quite dissimilar in appearance and it’sstyle of flying to the original type. To thecompetitive flying fancier, such details as colour,markings, length of beak, colour of eye and cere,shape of head etc. are of no importance since theywill neither help nor hinder the birds in theexecution of its primary function, long flying. Someof the present days flying strains bear little if anyresemblance to the old breed of fifty or sixty yearsago. But though the newer strains and types aregreatly respected for their flying prowess, the oldtype, or what is left of them, are still cherished byfanciers on both sides of the pond. To some a prettypigeon that will fly several hours at a great heightand in good style of wing action is more desirablethan a less attractive bird possessing the capacity fordawn to dusk flying.

The old Macclesfield type, I believe, comes prettyclose to being the epitome of what pigeon fanciersconsider true Tippler type. In size, I should think the“Maccs” might better be described as a small birdrather than medium as some writers have depicted it.A small bird then, fairly shallow of keel and cobbytype. Broad at the shoulders and tapering back to afairly narrow rump. Wings carried well up andextending to about approximately three quarters ofan inch from the tip of a tightly folded tail. Neckfairly short, broad at the base and tapering towardthe throat. No gullet. The head to rise in a gentleradius immediately behind the wattle, with noexcess of either top or back skull. The eye is light incolour enriched by a fine dark cere. Beak rathershort, probably no more than three eights of an inchin length.

In colour the old Maccsare known to haveoccurred in blue bars,grays, or grizzles,bronzes and probablygreasies and mottles. Butto the average pigeonman, the most typicaland certainly mostattractive Tipplermarking was the verypopular light print – anall white body, blacktipped flights and tail, adark patch of colourdirectly below the chin known as the “chuck”, ablack or grey ticking in the neck and head. To manyold fanciers the old Tippler was all anyone coulddesire in a pigeon. I wonder why so many of themgave them up in preference of Homers or fancybirds. It was a naturally and beautifully formed birdswith a set of distinctive markings which set it apartfrom other breeds and made it pretty enough toattract attention and admiration in the showroom.But best of all, it was a flying pigeon that possesseda style of flight that was beautiful and thrilling towitness.

B. H. Wedgewood – There are numerous colouredmarked birds amongst same being lights, greasies orgrizzles, silvers, mottles, prints, selfs and sandies,but this is a detail for flying qualities, although it isadvisable to cultivate a showy and attractive birdcombined with its high flying propensities, so thateventually you may be induced to enter one or twoat some show. For the latter at deep keel, not

crooked breasted, medium size and short in feather,i.e., not too long in tail and body, good strong andbroad flights and full fronted and head well thrownback with a good chest. The head should not be toofull or too long but medium size. Legs should befairly short, not what is termed as “leggy” withsmall feet. A nice pearl eye standing well out andneat cere is a great point with beak of mediumlength, not like the flying Homer as these qualitiesmake the bird very attractive.

Job Ofileld – Although there is nothing on record asto it’s origination it is generally believed to have hadits source at Rainow about two miles fromMacclesfield. Mr. Pownall, of that town verifies thisin a statement that there is a painting of a Flying

Tippler executedsomewhere about 70years ago and that hepersonally remembershis father keeping blues,grays, and bronzesnearly black 50 yearsago. He does notremember such birds asbadges, bald pates, orreds and yellowsappearing in the pureTippler. And whenwhite was present it wasgenerally on theshoulders, the heads andtails remaining colored

the longest, no matter how you bred until they camewith mixed tails and flights, ticked heads, with purewhite bodies.

Now back to our badge, beard, white flights,oddities etc. The name Sheffield Crossbred or NonPerforming Tumblers Mr. Kern calls them, orpersonally Competition Flyer, not Tippler is thename they should go by.

The standard for the Show Tippler as printed inWedgewood’s book around 1931 still reads thesame today. This has preserved a beautiful naturalshow pigeon that is much closer to the originalFlying Tippler than many of today’s so called FlyingTipplers. The standard for the Flying Tippleraccepted by the NPA and FTA by John Curley willdo the same for our Flying Tippler. Many breedersof our sporting breeds condemn standardizing theirperformers, saying that it is for the showmen.

As it is now, any pigeon that will fly long times isbeing called a “Tippler”.

“FOOTNOTES”

American Pigeon Journal,August 1958 p. 244

The Tippler for Exhibitionand FlyingB.H. Wedgewood

The Flying Tippler – JobOfield 1932

Here is a letter written onOctober 17, 1960 to MrAdrian A. Jessop, the FTASecretary at the time.However, I am uncertainas to the author of thisletter.A question was askedabout the history of strainsin Canada at the time….the answer is below.

The question is a very involved one, in fact, I amvery doubtful whether I can answer to yoursatisfaction or not, but I will try. We will start withwhat was known as the Hall birds, and are betterknown today as the Butterfly strain, owing to themovement of their wings, it being very similar tothat of the butterfly in flight. This strain was all of adun colour, there being dunmottles, dun selfs dun printsetc. These were imported toCanada about 40 years agomy Mr. Doug Prud’hommeof Toronto. These birds werea good flying bird, flyinghigher than the average, butI believe, owing to the factthey were so closely inbred.It was almost impossible totrain them to dark, for beingvery high strung. As soon asdark approached instead oflowering they would riseand you could say good byeto your kit for that day.Again these birds are ratheron the small side and areinclined to have a more orless square head. The lastfew years these birds have

been crossed back to the older strain which not onlyimproved their flying ability but also brought an

enroundment to the skull,so that today some ofthem are nice enough toshow. The older strainthat I mentioned wasimported to Canada over60 years ago, but justwho imported themescapes me at the moment.The strain known as thePass Waterfowl andCurtis, and later on thethey were crosses ofRedney PeeWee Pass andBrowns introduced sothat you had pretty nearany and every variety ofcolour imaginable, exceptdun. There were blacks,mottles, brown mottlesand even the odd red

mottle, light prints, Grizzles blues; in fact just aboutanything you could ask for. Their flying ability neverwas nor ever will be questioned as they hold therecord in Canada and the USA.

If you have any comments on this or any otherarticle we would certainly want to publish in futureCNTU newsletters.Send us some stuff!