Back in 1967 I was in Basic Instrument training at Ft Rucker, Alabama. I was flying a Bell TH-47. When not flying in the Helicopter I was at the Simulator practicing instrument flying in a modified Link trainer. A Collective control had been installed to control power. Much harder to fly than the Helicopter under the hood. The Army Aviation Musuem at FT Rucker has one of the old "Blue Canoes" on display. I retired flying the Boeing 777 and the difference in the two simulators is night and day. I am a better pilot because of the time I spent in the Link.
So in theory vs building an electronic motion platform, a phone call to an accordion manufacturer (custom bellows- pitch and roll), some pool companies (Vacuum pump) and a trip to the junkyard (starter motor -for yaw) and throw in a VR headset for instruments and save several Thousand dollars!
I am a former (1953 to 1957) USN pilot training flight simulator instructor. My rating was TD (TRADEVMAN) or Training Devices Man. I was a petty officer E-6 when I left the Navy. I instructed Pilots in the Link Trainers at Corry field, Pensacola Fla. In 1954-55 and eventually in multi-engine P2V flight simulators at NAS Hutchinson Kansas. I have stories I could share about students becoming disoriented and having to be " rescued" because they got vertigo in the link. They didn't bail out, but I think they wanted to. I made contact with. one USMC pilot who later returned to Corey field, serving as an instructor pilot in T-28B aircraft. I made contact with him about 50 years after he was my student and he thanked me for "saving" his career as an aviator after a humorous incident which he took very seriously. I never realized that I'd even helped him that much. The pilot candidates were training in SNJ aircraft and we had our Links set up to simulate them. I found a way to show the pilots the difference between the control stick response of a real SNJ which I was allowed to fly with instructor Pilots and the somewhat vague control response of the Link, which could be described as somewhere between a player piano at a church organ, both in Edwin Einks background. This is the first real in-depth video I have ever seen about my beloved link and the experience I've had as a young Navy Link instructor preparing these Pilots for a USN or USMC flying career. Thank you so much for presenting such a detailed and interesting account of this very necessary system for training Pilots. Edwin link was a genius and his link trainer was a masterpiece of electromechanical wizardry. Thanks, and Hats Off to you for giving it life again!. Allan Edwards Bluesydeup@aol.com
This is a wonderfully detailed explanation of all the ins and outs of the famous Link Trainer. I don't think it's ever been examined this closely for the general public. It's magic to be able to train so productively and efficiently.
Trained on one of these as an ATC Cadet in GB back in the late 70s, imagine my joy only two weeks ago when joining a museum at the former R.A.F airbase later 8th American bomber base at Rougham, which now a museum to those brave American bomber Crew if Ww2, near Bury St Edmunds Suffolk in Eastern England and it still works, oh the utter joy I felt climbing up into the cockpit closing the lid and being wisked back nearly 45yrs, they have had it working but it needs to be certified again , I wait with bated breath for that day .
Player pianos use a negative-pressure windchest. The pump produces a "weak" vacuum, and all the control pneumatics (little bellows) collapse when they operate. There's a practical simplicity to this, since you can use relatively thin rubberized cloth to cover the bellows, and the material doesn't need to be especially thick or stiff, since a collapsing bellows really can't easily "blow out" or "balloon". Organs have to use a positive-pressure windchest. You need air to blow out of organ pipes (to form the air jet over the organ pipe lip). Pipe organs use a set of bellows (with stiffener reinforcements to keep them from "ballooning") and reservoir to build up "slightly" compressed air. For control mechanics (like Barker levers) all the pneumatics are set up to inflate rather than collapse, but these can be a bit trickier to work with. Some self-playing instruments (like Welte organs) have BOTH a suction pump and a positive-pressure pump. The control system (trackerbar, valves, pneumatics, etc.) for self-playing uses the weak vacuum, and the positive-pressure system is reserved for making the organ pipes speak. [This really makes sense, since you need vacuum to keep the music roll paper "sucked onto" the trackerbar that "reads" it]. It's no surprise that Link trainers use vacuum. If all you need is mechanical motion derived from fluid pressure, it's easier to build a "vacuum" system than a positive-pressure system. The wind motor for rotating the trainer (yaw) looks pretty much exactly like a sized-up version of the motor type used in player-piano spoolboxes to drive the paper transport.
Cool story. I've seen the one at the aviation museum here in Winnipeg but I never realized how interesting it was both mechanically and in its place in history.
I'm wondering if the miniature wings and control surfaces were intended to be for the benefit of the instructors and observers? At a glance, it was obvious which end was the nose, and which was the tail, as it was spinning, banking, and diving or climbing.
You can see a Link trainer at the National Museum of the US Air Force, in Fairborn/Dayton Ohio in the WWII gallery. It's displayed under the B-18 Bolo bomber. I volunteer there. Free admission, open 9-5 7 days per week .
the Apollo command module was a Link Simulator, (not a blue box) as Link was owned by SINGER at the time. I came along in the early 70s for SkyLab and later F4 Phantoms, T-37s, T-38s, Hueys, Cobras and on and on. Full motion full visual sims have come a long ways baby!
I spent many hours in the Link trainer - DC3 days (All without the "Feathers" - wings & tail). If the Instructor went away for a "Twinkel" you could fly off the edge of the World as the plotter fell of the table.😊
Amazing, every month visit Mr Links workshop at harbor branch. I never knew about his life or about these simulators. I see his pictures and such on the walls and I wonder who he was. I am fascinated by his engineering work on that submarine. I study it everytime I go there. I am glad that someone out there could bring a little of his life to light. Thanks for this video I will be asking questions on my next visit.
If you with some foresight realise that you will have a sunday free in Stockholm, Sweden, you can inquire about a possible session in a Link Trainer at the aircraft museum in Västerås¹. Appointment has to be arranged for the Link trainer, but there are other simulators available. ¹) 1 hour drive from Stockholm.
Dad maintained they put him in a modified one for assessment in 1940 for the RAF. It was for rear gunner selection with lights simulating attacking aircraft. Made him sick for days after, so joined the army thank god. Apparently he was exemplary but they said that to all the candidates with a limited life expectancy.
As did I. The only difference is I was in New Zealand. The PO training us declared that I would never be a pilot. 😳 I have a PPL just to prove him wrong. 😂
Part of my work is to repair/rebuild player pianos... That is so funny to see the similarities. I often thought one could have built an entire mechanical computer system using the player piano system.
Wow 1930 tec very impressive how they made use of what they have at that time to stimulate airplane dynamics including gagues so precisely what a marvel of its time today's hydrolic n stepper motor stimulators runs on gyro n microprocessor inputs but back in the day doing all this with precise bellow cams vacume is very impressive n i don't know ever this exists before watching this video
I started work for Singer-Link in 1983 and eventually retired from Lockheed Martin in 2018 as Chief Engineer on an Aircrew Training System program. I spent a lot of time at the Binghamton, NY facility. I worked in flight simulation for 45 years and it is amazing to see how technology continues to evolve in flight simulation. I really enjoyed watching this video and the designs that Link developed to make this work are really amazing. Thank you!
Link trainers have always fascinated me, with many being found here in UK museums in different conditions. Thank you so much for such a detailed video on the machine. Its great to see somebody with such a passion for them look after them and educate others.
I was in the Royal Airforce Cadets (RAC) when I was a kid in the 1990's & there was one of these in a store room. Never saw it work, but it was for training the cadets to fly the de Havilland Chipmunk.
this was fascinating. i knew the link trainer could provide a pretty comprehensive simulation but not the extent. and i had just always assumed they were electric servo operated. had no idea they were vacuum/bellows actuated.
Many years ago, while at the 'aviodome' museum in the Netherlands, I was allowed to 'fly' one of those. Amazing how advanced it is considering when it was designed.
Interesting. I have played on games, and I KNOW it’s not anything like the real thing. I started on TV screens, and I augered in plenty while I was forcing myself to learn. That was in the 90s. My son brought over some headset contraption, which allowed me to move my head around and keep an eye on things besides a little screen. I had vertigo for about 20 seconds. This was likely because there is no “seat of the pants” feel to any game. I would probably be beside myself if I ever got into a real simulator that actually had some motion involved!
Incredibly interesting and entertaining video. Bravo. I wonder how the airspeed value was computed when there are so many variables that affect the result. I must say that when you put up the photograph of Air Marshall Robert Leckie I first took it to be a picture of the actor Jim Backus in his role as the drunken pilot in the 1963 movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." My apologies to the Marshall.
Thanks for this great video! 🙂 Just had the idea: Wasn´t the "crab" of the link trainer not in some way a direct "ancestor" of today´s computer "mouse"? 🧐
Very kind of Gilles to include Nick in the presentation. I would have been doing the Chef of the Future routine with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney if I'd been asked to appear on camera. Nick, you did very well. Hats off to you.
A friend of mine who was a pilot , did "fly" the link . And said he found it harder to fly then a real aircraft . Flying on blind instruments is not easy at the best of times . On one occasion he was required to fly a triangle course of about 8 miles each side arriving at he's departure point . He could hear muffled laughter coming from the instructor . It was not till he "landed" , did he discover he had flown most of the course 6 feet under the ground !
I just came here from a video on Charles Babbage mechanical computer, its a shame it couldnt be made manufactured at the time, or computers would have begun a century earlier, just in time to meet these badass steampunk machines To think there could have been vehicles powered by air and guided by mechancial computers
When I was going to electronics school (71-72) one of these was donated to the school. It was decided that it would cost too much to get it running. Ours must have been a later model. Tube electronics and servoes.
Interesting to see so many of the same components as the player piano I grew up with. Very interesting channel. Excited to watch more of your tech history videos. Thanks for making these.
I have had a go on one of these at the Brenzett museum in Kent, I was told by the museum attendant that in his opinion I was a born pilot, I didn't tell him I am afraid of heights lol. Great trainer though, absolutely loved it.
I'm late to the party. I was aware the Link Trainer being used during WWII but I had no idea they were so sophisticated. The anecdotes of trainee pilots become disoriented is a testament to how good they were.
Yes. The throttle lever was connected (via push-rod and springs) to a bellows, which regulated the flow of air into a tank (mounted behind the pilot's seat). Most of the Link's systems were powered by a central vacuum pump in the base. When you pushed the throttle forward, it resulted in a decrease in air pressure in that tank. A sensor in the tank relayed the pressure information to an altimeter (in the cockpit) and at the instructor's panel. (The throttle lever also had similar connections to the front and rear bellows, so that when you pushed the throttle forward, the aircraft would nose-up, and vice-versa when the throttle was reduced.) It was also capable of stalling and spinning! A very cool device! (As a kid in high school, many years back, several CAP cadets and I restored a few of these to flying condition.)
I got some time under instruction in a Link trainer in 1987... it is an excellent method of initial training. I'll also note: some models got modded with a variable resistor tied to the ASI reading, and DC motors in the crab. This did make the throttle matter... but a lot of instructors simply ignored the map functions. It's nowhere near as cool as the MS Flight Sim with proper flight stick and pedals... I did get a quarter hour on that. I also got some time in the F-15 sims at EAFB, and the P-3 Orion sim at MCAS Kanehoe, both also in 1987. (NJROTC cadet and CAP cadet. NJROTC Senior Trip was to Pearl and Kanehoe. Freshman year, got to NS Seattle and NS Whidby Island. No flight sims there.)
It makes me think of the electricity system we have, where we say the current flows form + to - while the actual flow of electrons is from - to + (which is annoying me to no end)
Yeah. It is embarrassing that so many people turned of everything they knew were facts and just swallowed lies. I can understand him wearing the masks though. At that time you basically were forced to if you went into a public area - UA-cam probably would have deleted the videos if he hadn't worn the mask. Good thing to still see it though so we can remember and never let them do that to us again.
What is sad about this interesting description of an excellent training device, is that the foolishness of humans following pack mentality (mindlessly wearing masks that do nothing positive for anyone) is now captured permanently on the web. Sad times. Perhaps those in the future looking back at these times will make more sensible choices? I do hope so.
You came here not to appreciate the video or what's in it, but to write a stupid comment about a personal decision that a stranger made? Yeah, cloth masks don't do much (N95s definitely do), but I'm not about to be a dick and say something negative, especially when it's totally unrelated to the video. Go away.
Yes i have always been sensitive about people covering their faces either voluntarily like a bank robber or KKK member , or being forced to like Women in many Islamic countries. Of course whatever the Party tells you to do is fine right Comrade?
@OP - thank you yet again for a great deep dive into an important piece of our past. @EVERYONE_ELSE - thank you for all your comments, they really bring this device and it’s importance to life to those of us with no direct contact. For me at least, it truly doubles the value of this video! Thank you for your service - even when simulated :)
Back in 1967 I was in Basic Instrument training at Ft Rucker, Alabama. I was flying a Bell TH-47. When not flying in the Helicopter I was at the Simulator practicing instrument flying in a modified Link trainer. A Collective control had been installed to control power. Much harder to fly than the Helicopter under the hood. The Army Aviation Musuem at FT Rucker has one of the old "Blue Canoes" on display. I retired flying the Boeing 777 and the difference in the two simulators is night and day. I am a better pilot because of the time I spent in the Link.
I was in Class 67-501 at Ft. Rucker. Spent many hours in one of these.
So in theory vs building an electronic motion platform, a phone call to an accordion manufacturer (custom bellows- pitch and roll), some pool companies (Vacuum pump) and a trip to the junkyard (starter motor -for yaw) and throw in a VR headset for instruments and save several Thousand dollars!
I am a former (1953 to 1957) USN pilot training flight simulator instructor. My rating was TD (TRADEVMAN) or Training Devices Man. I was a petty officer E-6 when I left the Navy.
I instructed Pilots in the Link Trainers at Corry field, Pensacola Fla. In 1954-55 and eventually in multi-engine P2V flight simulators at NAS Hutchinson Kansas.
I have stories I could share about students becoming disoriented and having to be " rescued" because they got vertigo in the link. They didn't bail out, but I think they wanted to. I made contact with. one USMC pilot who later returned to Corey field, serving as an instructor pilot in T-28B aircraft. I made contact with him about 50 years after he was my student and he thanked me for "saving" his career as an aviator after a humorous incident which he took very seriously. I never realized that I'd even helped him that much.
The pilot candidates were training in SNJ aircraft and we had our Links set up to simulate them. I found a way to show the pilots the difference between the control stick response of a real SNJ which I was allowed to fly with instructor Pilots and the somewhat vague control response of the Link, which could be described as somewhere between a player piano at a church organ, both in Edwin Einks background.
This is the first real in-depth video I have ever seen about my beloved link and the experience I've had as a young Navy Link instructor preparing these Pilots for a USN or USMC flying career. Thank you so much for presenting such a detailed and interesting account of this very necessary system for training Pilots. Edwin link was a genius and his link trainer was a masterpiece of electromechanical wizardry. Thanks, and Hats Off to you for giving it life again!.
Allan Edwards
Bluesydeup@aol.com
This is a wonderfully detailed explanation of all the ins and outs of the famous Link Trainer. I don't think it's ever been examined this closely for the general public. It's magic to be able to train so productively and efficiently.
This is the most boomer UA-cam comment I've ever read, the AOL email address signature and all and I love it, lol.
Trained on one of these as an ATC Cadet in GB back in the late 70s, imagine my joy only two weeks ago when joining a museum at the former R.A.F airbase later 8th American bomber base at Rougham, which now a museum to those brave American bomber Crew if Ww2, near Bury St Edmunds Suffolk in Eastern England and it still works, oh the utter joy I felt climbing up into the cockpit closing the lid and being wisked back nearly 45yrs, they have had it working but it needs to be certified again , I wait with bated breath for that day .
Player pianos use a negative-pressure windchest. The pump produces a "weak" vacuum, and all the control pneumatics (little bellows) collapse when they operate. There's a practical simplicity to this, since you can use relatively thin rubberized cloth to cover the bellows, and the material doesn't need to be especially thick or stiff, since a collapsing bellows really can't easily "blow out" or "balloon".
Organs have to use a positive-pressure windchest. You need air to blow out of organ pipes (to form the air jet over the organ pipe lip). Pipe organs use a set of bellows (with stiffener reinforcements to keep them from "ballooning") and reservoir to build up "slightly" compressed air. For control mechanics (like Barker levers) all the pneumatics are set up to inflate rather than collapse, but these can be a bit trickier to work with.
Some self-playing instruments (like Welte organs) have BOTH a suction pump and a positive-pressure pump. The control system (trackerbar, valves, pneumatics, etc.) for self-playing uses the weak vacuum, and the positive-pressure system is reserved for making the organ pipes speak. [This really makes sense, since you need vacuum to keep the music roll paper "sucked onto" the trackerbar that "reads" it].
It's no surprise that Link trainers use vacuum. If all you need is mechanical motion derived from fluid pressure, it's easier to build a "vacuum" system than a positive-pressure system. The wind motor for rotating the trainer (yaw) looks pretty much exactly like a sized-up version of the motor type used in player-piano spoolboxes to drive the paper transport.
Never realized how sophisticated a Link trainer was. Thank you for the video.
Cool story. I've seen the one at the aviation museum here in Winnipeg but I never realized how interesting it was both mechanically and in its place in history.
There are 555 likes on this video, it feels like a really bad timing to click like again 🤓
The best thing about these is that they absolutely didn't have to make them look like tiny little stubby planes. But they did anyway.
I'm wondering if the miniature wings and control surfaces were intended to be for the benefit of the instructors and observers? At a glance, it was obvious which end was the nose, and which was the tail, as it was spinning, banking, and diving or climbing.
An amazing peace of engineering. Is it possible to get service manuals for the Link CAT-3? I was offered one to restore.
20 years from now, young people are gonna be like:
“Why was everyone wearing masks back then? Was that the style?”
You can see a Link trainer at the National Museum of the US Air Force, in Fairborn/Dayton Ohio in the WWII gallery. It's displayed under the B-18 Bolo bomber. I volunteer there. Free admission, open 9-5 7 days per week .
the Apollo command module was a Link Simulator, (not a blue box) as Link was owned by SINGER at the time. I came along in the early 70s for SkyLab and later F4 Phantoms, T-37s, T-38s, Hueys, Cobras and on and on. Full motion full visual sims have come a long ways baby!
Why would it use 700Hz? Standard navy and aviation frequency is 400Hz... (23:54)
Great video.. would be better if you weren't wearing a sheep on your face
Not just used for basic training. The wartime RAF used them to practice blind landing using the beam approach system for heavy bomber pilots.
I spent many hours in the Link trainer - DC3 days (All without the "Feathers" - wings & tail).
If the Instructor went away for a "Twinkel" you could fly off the edge of the World as the plotter fell of the table.😊
Amazing, every month visit Mr Links workshop at harbor branch. I never knew about his life or about these simulators. I see his pictures and such on the walls and I wonder who he was. I am fascinated by his engineering work on that submarine. I study it everytime I go there. I am glad that someone out there could bring a little of his life to light. Thanks for this video I will be asking questions on my next visit.
Eh ??? Submarine ?? Harbour Branch ? What !!
@@stupitdog9686 he started a oceanic institute in Ft Pierce Florida. He loved the ocean and built subs, one unfortunately took the life of his son.
Oh! I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.
If you with some foresight realise that you will have a sunday free in Stockholm, Sweden, you can inquire about a possible session in a Link Trainer at
the aircraft museum in Västerås¹. Appointment has to be arranged for the Link trainer, but there are other simulators available.
¹) 1 hour drive from Stockholm.
Thanks! I had thought it was for children! Simply had no clue.
Why that blue & yellow paint scheme?
I think yellow & blue is - was - the color scheme for trainer aircraft back in the day.
@@danquigg8311
Oh! Thanks!
That bit at 16:05 is neat!
museum of science and industry in Chicago had one. Cost a nickel to try it. 1969.
Dad maintained they put him in a modified one for assessment in 1940 for the RAF. It was for rear gunner selection with lights simulating attacking aircraft. Made him sick for days after, so joined the army thank god. Apparently he was exemplary but they said that to all the candidates with a limited life expectancy.
As did I. The only difference is I was in New Zealand.
The PO training us declared that I would never be a pilot. 😳
I have a PPL just to prove him wrong. 😂
Operating an AIRcraft simulator with AIR? Who woulda thought.
Part of my work is to repair/rebuild player pianos...
That is so funny to see the similarities.
I often thought one could have built an entire mechanical computer system using the player piano system.
Wow 1930 tec very impressive how they made use of what they have at that time to stimulate airplane dynamics including gagues so precisely what a marvel of its time today's hydrolic n stepper motor stimulators runs on gyro n microprocessor inputs but back in the day doing all this with precise bellow cams vacume is very impressive n i don't know ever this exists before watching this video
"I'm Gilles Messier...Thanks for watching!" 😄
Your historical record will have to mention why you’re wearing masks.
360p is a travesty, can hardly tell whats going on with some of the more intricate pieces. Super interesting and fantastic content otherwise!
Thank You Nick for having such an interest in this Incredible Machine & taking the time to refurbish it.
I started work for Singer-Link in 1983 and eventually retired from Lockheed Martin in 2018 as Chief Engineer on an Aircrew Training System program. I spent a lot of time at the Binghamton, NY facility. I worked in flight simulation for 45 years and it is amazing to see how technology continues to evolve in flight simulation. I really enjoyed watching this video and the designs that Link developed to make this work are really amazing. Thank you!
I’m still working for Link (CAE now) and we are still creating amazing products!
I spent lots of time in Tampa at the CAE facility and had some good friends there. @@albert5828
Link trainers have always fascinated me, with many being found here in UK museums in different conditions.
Thank you so much for such a detailed video on the machine.
Its great to see somebody with such a passion for them look after them and educate others.
I was in the Royal Airforce Cadets (RAC) when I was a kid in the 1990's & there was one of these in a store room. Never saw it work, but it was for training the cadets to fly the de Havilland Chipmunk.
Messier knows more about the simulator than the inventor and the restaurateur together..😊
Finally someone else who knows the difference between a flight deck and a cockpit 😅
this was fascinating. i knew the link trainer could provide a pretty comprehensive simulation but not the extent. and i had just always assumed they were electric servo operated. had no idea they were vacuum/bellows actuated.
Many years ago, while at the 'aviodome' museum in the Netherlands, I was allowed to 'fly' one of those. Amazing how advanced it is considering when it was designed.
Wow, the vibration generator is going the extra mile
3:34 yet that is still happening with defense contractors.
From the looks of it you can use it as a submarine trainer too..😊
Interesting and well presented as always
Really cool thanks guys
But why the wings and tail???
9:09 that pilot is just like me fr
chin diapers, neat!
Interesting.
I have played on games, and I KNOW it’s not anything like the real thing.
I started on TV screens, and I augered in plenty while I was forcing myself to learn.
That was in the 90s.
My son brought over some headset contraption, which allowed me to move my head around and keep an eye on things besides a little screen.
I had vertigo for about 20 seconds.
This was likely because there is no “seat of the pants” feel to any game.
I would probably be beside myself if I ever got into a real simulator that actually had some motion involved!
Incredibly interesting and entertaining video. Bravo. I wonder how the airspeed value was computed when there are so many variables that affect the result. I must say that when you put up the photograph of Air Marshall Robert Leckie I first took it to be a picture of the actor Jim Backus in his role as the drunken pilot in the 1963 movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." My apologies to the Marshall.
Thanks for this great video! 🙂 Just had the idea: Wasn´t the "crab" of the link trainer not in some way a direct "ancestor" of today´s computer "mouse"? 🧐
Very kind of Gilles to include Nick in the presentation. I would have been doing the Chef of the Future routine with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney if I'd been asked to appear on camera.
Nick, you did very well. Hats off to you.
A friend of mine who was a pilot , did "fly" the link . And said he found it harder to fly then a real aircraft . Flying on blind instruments is not easy at the best of times . On one occasion he was required to fly a triangle course of about 8 miles each side arriving at he's departure point . He could hear muffled laughter coming from the instructor . It was not till he "landed" , did he discover he had flown most of the course 6 feet under the ground !
I just came here from a video on Charles Babbage mechanical computer, its a shame it couldnt be made manufactured at the time, or computers would have begun a century earlier, just in time to meet these badass steampunk machines
To think there could have been vehicles powered by air and guided by mechancial computers
When I was going to electronics school (71-72) one of these was donated to the school. It was decided that it would cost too much to get it running.
Ours must have been a later model. Tube electronics and servoes.
Interesting to see so many of the same components as the player piano I grew up with. Very interesting channel. Excited to watch more of your tech history videos. Thanks for making these.
I have had a go on one of these at the Brenzett museum in Kent, I was told by the museum attendant that in his opinion I was a born pilot, I didn't tell him I am afraid of heights lol. Great trainer though, absolutely loved it.
They have one of those trainers hanging from the roof of the crown army surplus in Calgary!
I'm late to the party. I was aware the Link Trainer being used during WWII but I had no idea they were so sophisticated. The anecdotes of trainee pilots become disoriented is a testament to how good they were.
Fantastic video! Thank you!
How does a control column differ from a yolk and for what purpose?
Is it just me who thinks The New Statesman when the intro music plays?
You should ask if you can have a go in a Link when it's ready. 😊
If throttle was reduced. Did the airplane used to "descend"?
Yes. The throttle lever was connected (via push-rod and springs) to a bellows, which regulated the flow of air into a tank (mounted behind the pilot's seat). Most of the Link's systems were powered by a central vacuum pump in the base. When you pushed the throttle forward, it resulted in a decrease in air pressure in that tank. A sensor in the tank relayed the pressure information to an altimeter (in the cockpit) and at the instructor's panel. (The throttle lever also had similar connections to the front and rear bellows, so that when you pushed the throttle forward, the aircraft would nose-up, and vice-versa when the throttle was reduced.)
It was also capable of stalling and spinning! A very cool device!
(As a kid in high school, many years back, several CAP cadets and I restored a few of these to flying condition.)
@@nightbeacons Thank you for your explanation!
I wonder if they're fun? Sounds fun.
Link's were sold to Japan at some time???
Thanks for this very interesting story.
I was hoping to see the trainer in action! Is it functional?
I got some time under instruction in a Link trainer in 1987... it is an excellent method of initial training. I'll also note: some models got modded with a variable resistor tied to the ASI reading, and DC motors in the crab. This did make the throttle matter... but a lot of instructors simply ignored the map functions.
It's nowhere near as cool as the MS Flight Sim with proper flight stick and pedals... I did get a quarter hour on that. I also got some time in the F-15 sims at EAFB, and the P-3 Orion sim at MCAS Kanehoe, both also in 1987. (NJROTC cadet and CAP cadet. NJROTC Senior Trip was to Pearl and Kanehoe. Freshman year, got to NS Seattle and NS Whidby Island. No flight sims there.)
It makes me think of the electricity system we have, where we say the current flows form + to - while the actual flow of electrons is from - to + (which is annoying me to no end)
I Utterly DESPISE the use of Dog Muzzle!!! 🖕😡👎
How embarrassing it is to see people wearing masks back in the beginning of covid. Unnecessary, unhelpful and uncomfortable.
You're the only snowflake who is bothered by it.
Yeah. It is embarrassing that so many people turned of everything they knew were facts and just swallowed lies.
I can understand him wearing the masks though. At that time you basically were forced to if you went into a public area - UA-cam probably would have deleted the videos if he hadn't worn the mask.
Good thing to still see it though so we can remember and never let them do that to us again.
@@charliem989
Snowflake? Actually a lot of the snowflakes are STILL wearing masks.
Snowflakes are the ones that believed all the stupid lies.
Nice masks guys 😂 keep it up! Good video
These masks are useless. 😂😂😂
When I saw them wearing masks the video didn’t seem watchable anymore.
Very informative video, but so hard to watch with the silly clown masks.
What is sad about this interesting description of an excellent training device, is that the foolishness of humans following pack mentality (mindlessly wearing masks that do nothing positive for anyone) is now captured permanently on the web. Sad times. Perhaps those in the future looking back at these times will make more sensible choices? I do hope so.
You came here not to appreciate the video or what's in it, but to write a stupid comment about a personal decision that a stranger made? Yeah, cloth masks don't do much (N95s definitely do), but I'm not about to be a dick and say something negative, especially when it's totally unrelated to the video. Go away.
Please upload a version without the masks , too painful to watch.
Then don't watch it. Nobody needs to hear about how you're so hypersensitive about a piece of fabric over someone's face.
Yes i have always been sensitive about people covering their faces either voluntarily like a bank robber or KKK member , or being forced to like Women in many Islamic countries.
Of course whatever the Party tells you to do is fine right Comrade?
12:45
Thumbs down for wearing masks!
Oh know! My masked doofuses ptsd has been triggered! LOL
Oh yeah, you’re in the CCP, Communist Canada Party!
Not as smart as others…. Maga
🤡😷
dislike because of masks
I had to leave. Good subject but i can't abide the masks.
CoVid Time Stamp, y'all.
@OP - thank you yet again for a great deep dive into an important piece of our past.
@EVERYONE_ELSE - thank you for all your comments, they really bring this device and it’s importance to life to those of us with no direct contact. For me at least, it truly doubles the value of this video! Thank you for your service - even when simulated :)