The Suomi Imperiumi Lentokonetehdas Model 17 has come a long way. It first began as narrow bodied twin engine, fixed landing gear, civilian aircraft, followed by a highly successful civil floatplane that civilians and foreign military dignitaries scrambled to get more of, resulting in two variant military floatplane designs in addition to a subvariant for Suomi only to come full circle in a new redesign as a civilian land plane aircraft.

In 1946 various regional airlines, generally controlled by one noble or another, were looking for a new aircraft to service their air routes. Thus while work on the Enkeli was underway, a newly redesigned fuselage was being devised for this regional airliner that would allow for a larger passenger capacity without increasing cost of operations and performance too terribly.

The following year, 1947, the SILK-178 Regional Airliner was placed on the civil market. Many were put off by its design at the outset. Certainly, its capacity of 32 passengers was attractive but even the early Model 17s produced in 1943 were criticized for the lack of retractable landing gear - yet here four years later with a purpose built airliner it again lacked retracting landing gear. It was purchased by a handful of regional airlines due to its low price and the reputation of the preceeding variants in the Model 17 series but it was not in Finland that it truly showed its colors - it was in her colonial territories.

Although she lacked retractable landing gear, the non-retractable gear was extremely rugged and could handle very hard landings without damage. Furthermore, in the winter months, in the Northernmost holdings of Se Suomi Imperiumi the wheeled landing gear was quickly and easily swapped out for ski-landing gear. These traits would make the SILK-178 a popular "Bush" plane for many years to come.