The Best Ship for Bulls-eyeing Womp Rats Back Home, We Breakdown the T-16 Skyhopper
The humble T-16 Skyhopper is just a repulsorlift airspeeder, sure, but it also helped save the galaxy. From a certain point of view.
Of all the ships used in the Galactic Civil War, one of the most impactful (if indirectly so) may well be the T-16 Skyhopper, sometimes known as the T-16 Airspeeder, or just “T-16”. Bearing a striking similarity to a Lambda Class T-4a Shuttle, the T-16 was designed by none other than the Incom Corporation.
Its intended use was as a high-performance airspeeder. With a reputation for stability and reliable controls, it was an easy “first flyer” for youths throughout the galaxy, but especially on the Outer Rim world of Tattooine. How does one ship save the galaxy, though?
Practice, practice, practice.
The T-16 Skyhopper – Design and Capabilities
Designed by the Incom Corporation, the T-16 Skyhopper has few feature, but the ones it does have, it wears well. Starting with an aesthetic tri-wing design that made it both maneuverable and resemble the Lambda-class Shuttle.
And on a datapad, this airspeeder isn’t much. A mere 12 meters long and 10.4 meters high, the T-16 has a crew of 1, typically carrying only a single pilot. Powering the craft, an array of engines, including a DCJ-45 repulsorlift generator and a suite of E-16/x ion engines have it a surprisingly fast top speed, maxing out at 1.200 km/h, with a maximum altitude of 300 meters.
And what’s more, this craft was armed. It came with a Pneumatic Cannon, Stun Cannon, and Laser Cannon, which could be put to good use on womp rats, back home or elsewhere. Which is how the humble T-16 came to save the galaxy.
T-16 Skyhopper – A History of Learning to Let Go
Of all the people to own the cheap but reliable craft, perhaps none were more important than Luke Skywalker. On Tattooine, in the run up to the Battle of Yavin, Skywalker owned his very own T-16 Skyhopper. The nimble, responsive controls were similar to those of one of Incom’s other, more famous, designs, the X-Wing Starfighter.
To get a feel for being a fighter pilot, Luke Skywalker would often fly his T-16 through Beggar Canyon with none other than Rebel Hero Biggs Darklighter. The two would race through the high, narrow canyon, looking to push their piloting skills to the next level. Skywalker also used the airspeeder’s pneumatic cannon for target practice on a local pest, the womp rat, a rodent known to prey on moisture farm equipment just as much as anything else.
At sizes not much bigger than two meters, the womp rats – as well as the similarities to the X-Wing, gave Skywalker the training and confidence to volunteer for a dangerous attack on the Death Star was it approached the rebel base on Yavin IV.
The rest, as they say, is history.
