Rare breeds

Jack Prescott
(Internet Published) Oct 2000

In more than 40 years of writing I have had many letters, conversations and phone calls from men who were born and raised in countries far away from England. The experience has mostly been good - even if conducted in broken English. I always believe that man of goodwill can communicate very well even with just a few basic words and I can sense sincerity or the "other stuff" very early in a conversation no matter how good or poor the English is.

All too often these men make enquiries about Tipplers Rollers and a few old breeds that no longer exist as a practical flying proposition. The main problem is that these men have a false impression about Tipplers and Rollers. They have heard about Tipplers that fly for 22 hours and 5 minutes. They have heard about Rollers, which spin like a flicked coin. They have heard about Cumulets and West of England Tumblers. They have not been told about the extremist tactics involved to get marathon times nor have been told anything about the capabilities of the average kit of contest Tipplers. The statistics about fail rates, losses, culls within the Roller and Tippler fancy have never been available.

One may ask what are the "RUN OF THE MILL" specimens likely to do in the hands of the average man who has no pretensions of becoming a fanatic or an extremist?

The "cumulets" and West of England's have no constructive following as a flying proposition. I found them to be "pretty" but quite mediocre in the air. I suppose that it is the same with the other Old English breeds. There are no Tipplers that spend many, many hours at a great altitude "in the clouds all day" and I do not believe that there has ever been. Nevertheless, most men like to live in a world of fantasy with the ideals "just out of reach".

Men of many races have told me about the fantastic pigeons in their old countries. They do marvellous things but it is not logical because there are no credible statistics available. I cannot go to these countries and see for myself, neither can I import such specimens, yet, in fact I've tried some of these exotic breeds and found them to be quite mediocre as flyers and performers, or even " extremely unreliable" when flown.

Such losses are a problem because they are almost impossible to replace. Tipplers and Rollers are easy to buy in England if one joins the appropriate clubs and the membership fees are exceedingly cheep. Any enthusiastic novice can get fixed up with the real McCoy and it will not cost him much money. The top Tippler and Roller men of Britain are definitely not mercenaries and con men.

[Internet Published Oct 2000 at http://www.tipplers.com/jack/]