The Airtourer was the winning design, submitted by Henry Millicer, the chief aerodynamicist of Australia's Government Aircraft Factories,[1] in a competition organised by Britain's Royal Aero Club in 1953.

[1] The prototype[4] was demonstrated to aero clubs and flying schools as a possible replacement for existing training aircraft, mostly Tiger Moths and Chipmunks.

Interest was shown in the design by Mervyn Richardson, Chairman of Victa Ltd, which at that time was best known for making lawn mowers and light two-stroke engines.

In addition, some of the Victa-built aircraft were rebuilt in the factory by AESL and issued with NZ serial numbers which accounts for some duplication.

AESL delivery pilot Cliff Tait used an Airtourer, ZK-CXU Miss Jacy, for a record breaking flight, circumnavigating the globe between May and August 1969 and covering 53,097 km in 288 flying hours.

Miss Jacy is now on display at the MOTAT museum in Auckland The Australian Certificates of Type Approval for the Victa Air Tourer 100 and 115 are now held by the Airtourer Cooperative Ltd of New South Wales, Australia.