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ASME International
The Link Flight Trainer
A Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark
Roberson Museum and Science Center, Binghamton, New York
J
une 10, 2000
 
Sept. 29, 1931
E. A. LINK, JR
 1,825,462
COMBINATION TRAINING DEVICE FOR STUDENTAVIATORS AND ENTERTAINMENT APPARATUS
Filed March 12, 19304 Sheets – Sheet 1
2
 
Figure 1: Original drawing from Edwin Link’s patent application
 
Historical Significance of the Work
he Link Trainer is a significant
contributor to the development of aviation. The Link Trainer provided a
means to train pilots in realistic conditions
without sacrificing their safety.Prior to the invention of the Link Trainer, a pilot learned how to fly byinstruction from another pilot. From1903 to 1917, pilot skills were passedfrom pilot to student. Learning to flywas expensive, time consuming, anddangerous. America’s entry into WorldWar I produced a large number of two-seat flight trainer planes. The most
famous of these, the “Jenny,” was
produced near Binghamton by theCurtiss Company in Hammondsport,
New York. After World War I, these
trainers were sold as surplus and wereused in air shows, races, and foramusement rides. Those willing totrain others, and those who hadsufficient time and money to affordlessons, still did pilot training on anindividual basis.
It took several years for Ed Link to
obtain his pilot’s license. When hereceived his pilot’s license in 1927, hebegan to think about better ways tolearn how to fly. Using his experiencesfrom flying and working in his father’spiano and organ company, he puttogether a flight trainer. A patentapplication filed March 12, 1930, wasgranted September 29, 1931.
The trainer was based on the vacuum
technology used in automatic musicalinstruments of the 1920s. In fact, the
earliest trainer sat on a series of organ
bellows, which would inflate or deflateto various heights to cause the trainerto bank, climb, and dive. In 1930, EdLink organized the Link Flying Schoolin Binghamton, New York. The trainerallowed him to reduce the cost of flying lessons by providing a way forthe student pilots to learn some flyingskills on the ground.In 1929 instrument flying wasintroduced, and by 1933 Ed Link hadupgraded his trainer so that it could beused for instrument training. Interestin the flight trainer grew slowly; in fact,it was more popular as a carnival ridethan a practical trainer in its early days.The first significant interest for useof the trainer for instrument flighttraining occurred in 1934. Earlier that year the U.S. Army Air Corps wasordered to take over airmail service inresponse to mail fraud from private
contractors. However, there were a
number of highly publicized crashes asa result of pilots not being able to flyon instruments during bad weather or
night flying. These accidents were costly
both in the loss of human life and theloss of aircraft. The Army becameinterested in the Link Trainer and
ordered six trainers to improve the
mail pilots’ skills.The Link Trainer came intowidespread use during World War IIwhen over 10,000 “blue box” trainers
were used to improve safety and shortentraining time for over 500,000 pilots. The
trainers were used as a step preceding
actual flight training and as an opportunityfor experienced pilots to sharpen their skills.
The legacy of the Link Trainer is visible today, with flight simulatorsbeing an integral part of pilot training.In recent years, Link simulators havebeen used in many historic applicationsincluding the training of the Apolloastronauts for the moon landing andthe training of space shuttle pilots.
Figure 2: Instructors carefully watch theprogress of a pilot using the Link Trainer
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