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

Mehmet Mehmed or Mehmet is the most common Turkish form of the Arabic male name Muhammad () (''Muhammed'' and ''Muhammet'' are also used, though considerably less) and gains its significance from being the name of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. Origina ...

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

Tommy Tommy may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tommy (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army * Tommy Giacomelli (born 1974), Brazilian fo ...

, 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 s ...

'' (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 () 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 association was founded with t ...

was bought out by

MKEK The Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation ( 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 military products. History Its root ...

. 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 () is the Air force, air and space force of the Turkish Armed Forces. It traces its origins to 1 June 1911 when it was founded as the Ottoman Aviation Squadrons, Aviation Squadrons by the Ottoman Empire. It was composed ...

purchased the

Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

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