Link Trainer and Other World War II Simulator Information

[Noha307]

One of the interesting things that I noticed with the Link trainer our museum is restoring is that, in contrast to the wood example we have on display, its desk is made of metal. This made me look at Link trainer desks in more detail and it made me realize that there is some variation between them.

Some, such as this one in use at RNAS Lee-on-solent, have only a single fold-out drawer on the left side containing the radio control chassis:

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Another one of this design in use with the USAAF:

(Source: Air Force Historical Research Agency)

This picture is from a 1938 issue of the Wonders of World Aviation magazine, indicating that this version predates the war:

(Source: Wonders of World Aviation)

A different version:

(Source: Planes of Fame Air Museum)

Others, such as this one at the World War II Flight Training Museum, have two drawers on the left side and a slide out surfaces on both sides. Note that this example is claimed to be original to the airport in Douglas, Georgia, potentially dating the usage of this version:

(Source: World War II Flight Training Museum)

This one shows the characteristic curved edge to the surface of the desk and separate corner pieces (silver) of the one under restoration at our museum. Note that, in contrast to some of the other types, the handles on the drawers are open on the top as well as the bottom:

(Source: AVADirect)

Here's a picture of this type in use in February 1943, again providing evidence that it is at least not a postwar design:

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Still others, such as this one at the Delta Flight Museum, have a set of three drawers on the left side and the radio control chassis in the middle. Given the similarities with the ones below (e.g. row of holes on the lower drawers) and the fact that there appear to be patches at the mounting points, it may be that this is a 1-CA-1 with the gantry removed:

(Source: Delta Flight Museum)

Finally, some, such as the 1-CA-1, have some sort of overhead gantry with a radio range quadrant attached:

(Source: eBay)

Again, this time being used by WAVES at NAS Memphis in 1948:

(Source: Naval History and Heritage Command)

EDIT (22-01-24): Thanks to a copy of T. O. No. 08-25-1, provided David D. Jackson of the website American Automobile Industry in World War Two, I can now identify that the type of desk with the single fold out drawer on the left is for the C-2 and C-4 models. The metal desk - the one with the open top handles - was used for the C-3 and C-5 models. Although not illustrated, later C-3 models are stated to "use a wood desk similar in design to the C-3 and C-5 metal types". Presumably, this refers to the examples with the closed top handles. Being an AAF document, the desks used by the 1-CA-1 types are not mentioned.

Last edited by Noha307 on Mon Jan 24, 2022 11:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[Noha307]

As I mentioned, the Link trainer being restored at our museum has a different desk than the one that is currently on display. In addition to aforementioned metal/wood difference, the top surface of the metal desk is covered in a different type of material - one I am not familiar with. It is made out of some sort of rubber-like material that is interwoven with twine to form a composite material. Can anyone identify it?

My understanding is that it just peeled off when removed. The brown material is what remains of the adhesive and if you look closely it still has the indentations from the weave of the fabric. The rubber like material itself has apparently dried out and cracked over time. While I don't believe this is the same exact piece in both sets of pictures, both were on the edge of the desk and in the underside pictures you can see the overall curved shape as well as the straight bottom edge that was covered by a lip of metal.

While we're on the subject of materials, someone posted some pictures of a new old stock seat back cover in a thread on the U.S. Militaria forum. Other results I came across while looking for information about desks for the previous post include: a thread about the restoration of a Link D4 over on Key.Aero and an excellent display of a postwar Link C-11B trainer at the Tennessee Museum of Aviation. However, the coolest thing has to be this Link trainer from 1948:

PLASTIC LINK

It's true that you won't get any instrument time flying a plastic trainer, although pilots might prefer it, especially when they are in a spin or when tackling a touchy range problem in a Link trainer.
However, one can easily see the working parts through the plasti-glass, and it was created as practical mock-up for the purpose of training Link maintenance personnel in troubleshooting. On first glance this Link may appear quite complicated, but to one who has watched it in operation its complexities become simple-you can see right through them. Thus, troubleshooting and preventive maintenance students have observed the operation of the working parts and their location in the plastic Link.
The plastic Link which the girl in the picture is demonstrating is undergoing experiments as a maintenance trainer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

(Source: Flying Safety via Air Force Safety Center)

EDIT (21-08-01): I almost forgot, this reminds me of the plexiglas version of the Norden bombsight that was made. It's also similar in concept to globe-like gunnery training devices for the B-25 and He 115.

Last edited by Noha307 on Sun Aug 01, 2021 9:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[bdk]

Looks like jute fabric with a rubber sheet perhaps vulcanized on top. Jute is like the material used in old fashioned non-synthetic rope. Potato sacks were commonly made from this material.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jute

As I mentioned, the Link trainer being restored at our museum has a different desk than the one that is currently on display. In addition to aforementioned metal/wood difference, the top surface of the metal desk is covered in a different type of material - one I am not familiar with. It is made out of some sort of rubber-like material that is interwoven with twine to form a composite material. Can anyone identify it?

(Source: Flying Safety via Air Force Safety Center)[/quote]

[Noha307]

Looks like jute fabric with a rubber sheet perhaps vulcanized on top. Jute is like the material used in old fashioned non-synthetic rope. Potato sacks were commonly made from this material.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jute

Thanks! That looks like the material. I couldn't think of a good term to use to refer to it and having one to search with makes things so much easier.

[Noha307]

I came across a companion article to the one above for the "Ruggles Orientator":

(Source: Flying via HathiTrust)

Postwar, Link designed two new simulators a "School Trainer":

(Source: Flying via Google Books)

(Source: Flying via Google Books)

and a "Model 45":

(Source: Flying via Google Books)

[Noha307]

A few more pictures of an early Link trainer from a 1936 issue of Aviation magazine. Based on the date, I understand this to be a Model C (USAAF designation C-2).[1][2] Note the unusual design of the flight recorder. (Even the trainers with this old style of desk pictured in a previous post don't use it.) As stated in the article, this was the first version of the Link trainer to come equipped with it, so it may have been a prototype:

Link Model C Desk.png (174.82 KiB) Viewed 9843 times

(Source: Aviation via Internet Archive)

Link Model C Instrument Panel.png (94.81 KiB) Viewed 9843 times

(Source: Aviation via Internet Archive)

EDIT (22-08-18): Came across another picture from 1936 at the Department of Commerce of what may be the same model of Link trainer. Note the similar, but not completely identical instrument panel layout:

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Last edited by Noha307 on Thu Aug 18, 2022 4:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Noha307]

It's postwar, but here's another one for the unexpected column, a ZSG-4 airship trainer:

ZSG-4 AIRSHIP TRAINER was converted from a Link trainer. Like other trainers and
simulators developed by Special Devices Center, it is fitter in a trailer.

(Source: Aviation Week)

[Noha307]

Another unique one, the "Nicholson Coordinator":

THIS IS A COORDINATOR. It reproduces the cockpit of an
Air Corps Training plane, burns no gasoline. Thousands of
AC cadets will begin aerial careers on it. Invented by H. G.
Nicholson of Cal-Aero Academy.

(Source: Aviation)

[bdk]

Cal-Aero Academy, AKA present day Chino Airport

Another unique one, the "Nicholson Coordinator":

THIS IS A COORDINATOR. It reproduces the cockpit of an
Air Corps Training plane, burns no gasoline. Thousands of
AC cadets will begin aerial careers on it. Invented by H. G.
Nicholson of Cal-Aero Academy.

(Source: Aviation)

[lucky52]

We had similar Link trainers at Ft.Rucker that were modified with a collective added in.We called them "Blue Canoes" because of their color.I think they had a similar desk setup to track our flight.There is supposed to be one at the museum at Rucker.

[Noha307]

We had similar Link trainers at Ft.Rucker that were modified with a collective added in.We called them "Blue Canoes" because of their color.I think they had a similar desk setup to track our flight.There is supposed to be one at the museum at Rucker.

Since you mentioned that, I did a quick search and it seems that the "Blue Canoe" nickname for the Link trainer was unique to postwar Army - and not Air Force - aviation as all of the other mentions of the term I found were by former Army pilots.[1][2] A bit of further searching found that the "in 1956...the U.S. Army Aviation School, Ft. Rucker, AL received its first 1CA1 Link trainer".[3]

The 1CA1, blue canoe, was the first trainer received at
the U.S. Army Aviation Center in 1956.

(Source: SP4 Abramson via United States Army Aviation Digest via Google Books)

Before you mentioned it, the only use of "Blue Canoe" I was aware of was as the unofficial nickname for the Cessna U-3. Since it was first ordered by the USAF (as the L-27), it would be interesting to know when the airplane acquired this nickname and whether it only occurred after it was operated by the Army.

Separately, I found an article about another device used during World War II called the "Navitrainer". It was designed by Lieutenant Colonel Carl J. Crane at the Instrument and Navigation Laboratory at Wright Field. (An organization I coincidentally ran into recently when I was researching the history of the earth inductor compass in another thread.) It sat on a rotating base and appears to have had a frame over which a fabric covering could placed for night flying.[4]

Student takes a reading with one of two
drift meters (A and B) with which the new
trainer is equipped.

(Source: Flying via Google Books)

Navitrainer Production Line.png (246.4 KiB) Viewed 9471 times

At right is produc-
tion line in shops at San Antonio Air Depot.

(Source: Flying via Google Books)

[cco23i]

A question, does anyone have a scan of the wiring diagram for the harness between the link and the desk? Thanks!

[cco23i]

Does anyone have either a link or copies of the forms and maps (for the crab on the desk) for the link trainers?

[Noha307]

A question, does anyone have a scan of the wiring diagram for the harness between the link and the desk? Thanks!

Not sure if these have what you're looking for, but you might try having a look through them:

• Illustrated Parts Catalog for Link Instrument Flying Trainers
• Link Instrument and Radio Trainer Type C-3 Handbook
• Link Trainer Operation and Training - TM 1-445
• Instrument Trainer Maintenance - TM 1-447
• Overhaul Instructions for Instrument Flying Trainer Type AN-2550-1 - AN 28-5A-2

Does anyone have either a link or copies of the forms and maps (for the crab on the desk) for the link trainers?

It's funny you mention that. I just so happen to be working on something that may be just what you're looking for. However, it is going to take some time. So stay tuned...

In the meantime, Blue Box Driver has a few maps.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, your best bet for Link trainer materials might be CT&I TechWorks.

[cco23i]

Thank you! Yes we are transporting the trainer and desk to Wendover and will restore it to working order. Thanks again!