__NOTOC__ The THK-16 ''Mehmetçik'' (Turkish: "Little

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"The name ''Mehmetçik'' is used in Turkish to refer informally to an archetypal or generic Turkish soldier, analogous to the British

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, American

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, or French ''

Poilu Poilu (; ) is an informal term for a late 18th century–early 20th century French infantryman, meaning, literally, ''the hairy one''. It is still widely used as a term of endearment for the French infantry of World War I. The word carries the se ...

'' (Brosnahan, Yale, and Plunkett 2005, 162) was an aircraft designed in Turkey in the early 1950s to provide the Turkish Air Force with a domestically designed and built jet trainer. The project was cancelled without the aircraft having been built.Taylor 1989, 683Cebeci, 2004 As designed, the THK-16 was to have been a conventional, mid-wing monoplane with the pilot and instructor seated in tandem under a long canopy. Power would have been provided by two small turbojets mounted in underwing nacelles, and construction was to have been metal throughout. Design work was practically complete in 1952 when

Türk Hava Kurumu Turkish Aeronautical Association ( tr, Türk Hava Kurumu - THK) is a non-profit organization with an aim of increasing public awareness and participation in aviation related activities and the national body governing air sports in Turkey. The asso ...

was bought out by

MKEK The Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation ( tr, Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi or MKE for short), established in 1950, is a reorganization of government-controlled group of factories in Turkey that supplied the Turkish Armed Forces with mili ...

. Although the THK-16 was selected as one of the THK designs that MKEK felt was worth continuing with and allocated the designation MKEK-3, the

Turkish Air Force The Turkish Air Force ( tr, ) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Air Force can trace its origins back to June 1911 when it was founded by the Ottoman Empire, however, the air force as it is known t ...

purchased the Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star as its jet trainer and work on the local design was abandoned.

Specifications (as designed)

Notes

References

* * * {{MKEK aircraft 1950s Turkish military trainer aircraft Twinjets Turkish Aeronautical Association aircraft Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation aircraft Mid-wing aircraft