In 114PA it was becoming painfully clear that the use of high tech and expensive fighter aircraft as trainers was not cost effective. On at least four occasions, one of Wa-Daisho's heavily modified Gray Falcons known as "Raiden" were put out of commission by a training accident, that required massive repairs to continue service. Thus, the Republican Council set a series of requirements down for the small, newly forming Republican Industries, to develop a basic trainer design. The requirements stated specifically, an aircraft with dual controls, reasonably rugged construction to allow for rough landings, and for it to be suitable for training both jet and prop pilots.

      Design work took an extensive period of time. Firstly, because of industrial lay out - the new surface factories, needing to be finished, and for a corporate structure to be developed around it. Secondly, up until recently, the most that had been produced by Republican Industries was license produced S-Mart products, and other equipment exclusive to Wa-Daisho in extremely limited numbers. This meant that design of the new trainer aircraft would be slow and tedious - and more than once required consultation of S-Mart engineers and technicians who specialized in aircraft mechanics. Finally, a design was settled upon, tooling and construction followed - with a prototype aircraft being completed by mid 115PA. It was a sharp looking low wing monoplane with a large T-style tail. It was a composite propelled aircraft with a heat/thrust nuclear powered turbojet in the rear of the fuselage, and an electromagnetic shaft driven propeller unit in the front of the fuselage, making it a dual purpose trainer as planned. Something that was not mentioned in the requisites but was decided was a valuable asset to the program, was the fact that the trainer was designed to accommodate a light load of weapons (intended for training purposes), and a set of floats were designed to allow for amphibious modifications! The first test flight took place from a rough gravel road outside of the city of Wa-Daisho, on August 3, 115PA with Lt. James Avery of Wa-Daisho's Air Force at the controls. The flight was not very smooth however. He reported an unusual horizontal vibration shortly after take off, which cleared up at around 200' of altitude only to return shortly thereafter. He continued to climb, until engaging the jet which caused the aircraft to sway violently, and required an immediate shut down of the aft thruster, as well as a dive to regain control. Two avoided spins, and a bouncy landing later - Lt. James Avery reported that the aircraft was extremely unsafe. It's horizontal stability was poor, and use of the jet thruster literally threw him out of control. Taking the aircraft back to the factories to study the problems revealed a number of things wrong with the aircraft. The vertical tail control surfaces were somewhat loose, which caused the aircraft's unusual vibration. That problem could be fixed easily. The aircraft's terrible tendency to want to spin however was located in the tail's design itself. This required a complete redesign of this region, a more conventional mid fuselage stabilizer configuration being settled upon finally. In January of 116PA the design was again ready for testing. This time with Sergeant Thomas Renquist at the controls. Unlike the previous flight, the new tail performed marvelously - allowing the design to be authorized for full production by the end of the month.

      In February 116PA the aircraft was designated the Republican Industries Type 16 Trainer, and entered production soon after. Republican Industries at the onset of production was geared to produce up to six aircraft a month. All of these were to be fitted with floats because of Wa-Daisho's lack of any real air port. Once an air port is constructed, these floats can be removed, and the landing gear be deployed as normal - however the tail wheel will have to be refitted, which is a simple task that requires five lock down bolts.

      The first of these aircraft entered service with Wa-Daisho's Air Force as trainers in April of the same year, and began training of pilots immediately. From these aircraft's early performance, it was seen that the design really had a lot of potential to be used in other roles as well. Observation to most nations in RIFTS time, usually comes at the cost of using high tech, expensive fighter aircraft that were just not designed for such uses. The design of the Type 16 however, was developed for training purposes - but just so happened to also combine the traits of a much more useful aircraft than just that. Within a few short weeks, it was realized that the aircraft could also be used to shadow sea going vessels, patrol waters at slow speed, utility work, communications, VIP transport, and even in light attack roles. Thus after Wa-Daisho's training squadron of sixteen aircraft was completed, eight more were secured for the Wa-Daisho Air Force as observation/patrol aircraft, and a further four more were attained for similar purposes for use by each Avery and Angel Peak based Militias. Part way through this final production run, Republican Industries received a shocking order from the NOMAD Air Force in August of 116PA for 22 aircraft for use as trainers for their own pilots. In January of 117PA, with the CS forces building up on their borders, Tolkeen also issued a request for 42 Type 16s for use as trainers, and as utility aircraft - the last of which were delivered on August 21, 117PA - a mere few days before the CS Invasion of Tolkeen.

      Since these military orders have been filled, a number of independent contracts have also been drawn out. A Delivery Service in El Paso has purchased 2 Type 16s for air mail drops to areas in Mexico and elsewhere. Akersley Fishing has purchased a trio of these aircraft, outfitted with the float package, for VIP transport of important officials to and from the fishing fleet. Furthermore a handful of individuals across North America have purchased these as independent personal aircraft.

      In it's intended role, it has turned out to be an excellent aircraft for training purposes. There have been fewer accidents due to the less complex systems used in the training aircraft, and it allows pilots to ease into the high performance of jet fighters and similar military aircraft. Those that entered service with Tolkeen, have since seen much more than simple pilot training. It's ability to carry light weapons has also resulted in it's use as a light attack and observation aircraft, in addition to liaison work transporting magic users and similar agents behind enemy lines, and deep into CS held territory. On occasion the type has also been used as a VIP Transport as well! Due to the inherent danger of these missions, since the aircraft were first delivered in August of 117PA, losses have been heavy in Tolkeen with no less than 18 of them having been destroyed in the first seven months of operations. To try to remedy these losses, in December of 117PA Tolkeen weapons engineers have outfitted the rear pilots compartment of the remaining 24 aircraft with a flexible mount, typically outfitted with a TW TK-60 Light Machine Gun.