Flight simulators had to start somewhere, and one of the earliest successful iterations was the Link Trainer. Initially created by Edwin Link using parts from his father’s piano and organ factory, the early Link Trainers were completed in the late 1920s. A pilot sat in the airplane and “flew,” while an instructor sat at a desk to provide radio communications, track the pilot’s progress, and change parameters like wind direction and speed. The Link Trainers were used extensively by military and civilian operators before and during World War II, and they paved the way for increasingly more sophisticated simulators thereafter. The Link C-3 Trainer pictured here was donated to the EAA Aviation Museum by Tom Huf of Weatherly, Pennsylvania.
From EAA’s Attic: Link Trainer
