Background Following the
end of the European portion of the
Second World War, Switzerland was one of several nations who used the new-found peacetime to modernise and expand its industrial and military capabilities. During 1947, independent of the N-20 effort, Swiss firm
Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein (FFA) decided to embark on their own independent fighter jet development programme.
Flight testing and evaluation During 1952, a pair of prototypes were ordered from FFA. On 25 April 1955, the first of these aircraft (
J-3001) performed its
maiden flight. This prototype was subsequently destroyed in a crash on 31 August 1955, having conducted 22 flights with a cumulative flight time of 12 hours 38 minutes. On 15 August 1956, the second prototype exceeded the
sound barrier for the first time. This prototype completed another 310 flights by March 1958, being withdrawn shortly thereafter. A development contract for a batch of four pre-production aircraft was awarded. These aircraft, which were designated
Mk II, differed from the earlier prototypes in a variety of ways; perhaps most significantly, these aircraft were furnished with the more powerful
Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire 7 engine in place of the prototype's Sapphire 6. Reportedly, test flights of the pre-production aircraft proved itself to have promise; during 1958, a production contract was awarded for 100 aircraft. However, another accident occurred when the first pre-production machine (
J-3003) was destroyed in a crash on 25 March 1958 after 102 flights. According to Lombardi, the second crash was a major blow to the project; it has been claimed that the Swiss Government decided to cancel the entire order due to the accidents involved.
Post-termination development Following the cancellation, FFA decided to continue the P-16 program at its own expense for a while. The company completing two further aircraft, which conformed to the more capable
MK III standard; these (
X-HB-VAC/J-3004 and
X-HB-VAD/J-3005) conducted their first flights in July 1959 and March 1960 respectively, while their last flights were performed during April 1960 and June 1960. One of the last flights was the one and only presentation abroad at
Friedrichshafen on the 26th of June 1960. Despite attempts by the company to attract customers, no buyers ultimately emerged for the type. Certain design aspects of the P-16 were used by business man and
inventor Bill Lear when developing the first of the highly successful
Learjet family of business jets, the
Learjet 23. Several of the engineers behind the P-16 later worked for Lear, and the design of both the P-16 and Learjet 23 bore several similarities; some historians have alleged the latter was a direct derivative of the former. William had become involved in the P-16 program at a later stage, which included flying the type multiple times, after FFA had reached out to him for his assessment of the aircraft during 1960. ==Design==