the fleet 16b finch ii was a progressive development of the original consolidated fleet primary trainer (fleet 10), manufacture of which commenced in canada by fleet aircraft in 1930. after a royal canadian air force (rcaf) evaluation in 1938 recommended a number of changes, a total of 431 finch trainers were built for the rcaf between 1939 and 1941. the aircraft had conventional construction for the period with a welded steel-tube fuselage having warren truss structure for its sides; and composite metal, wood and fabric design features, with frise ailerons, a flat-bottom airfoiled, variable incidence (trimmable) lifting two-piece tailplane; and similarly "lifting airfoil" on the fixed vertical stabilizer, cambered into an airfoil on its port side only, to offset the p-factor of the propeller's swirling slipstream. the rcaf acquired the aircraft type as an elementary trainer. the fleet 16 first entered rcaf service with tandem open cockpits, but the severity of the canadian winter necessitated the introduction of a sliding canopy at an early stage in the trainer's service career. the earlier model 10's centre-hinged main landing gear radius rods were retained for the model 16 series, as these centre-hinged units had replaced the "looped" left mainwheel's radius rod design that had been on the even-earlier fleet models 1, 2 & 7 biplanes from their own origins in november 1928.