The Link Trainer
Heroes Remember
The Link Trainer
Interviewer: What type of training did you take
at ITS or Initial Training School?
Well we took the ground school of course,
and I think that was our first introduction
to the Link Trainer. Do you know
anything about the Link Trainer?
Interviewer: Please describe to me
the Link Trainer.
Well, it was originated by a fellow in the
States and as a boy he grew up with his
father who played the organ and was a,
built organs in the factory and the boy of
course worked for him and when he got
older and learned to fly he wondered if he
couldn't make an instrument to teach you
instrument flying on the ground rather than
trying to have it taught solely in the air.
And developed on the same principle as the
organ with the bellows and that's what
he produced and they called it the Link
Trainer because that was his name.
And it had a panel, instrument panel,
it had a hood too, but it had an instrument
panel the same probably as a Harvard aircraft.
The instructor sat at a desk and he had the
same instrument panel and he would give,
the student would get in, pull the hood down,
turn it on and then he would be
given instructions on what to do.
In the old days, the Department of Transport
ran the air radio stations at the airports and
that's how the fellows found their way back
using radio. If you were on the beam,
you'd get a steady sound in your ears,
if you went off the beam to one side you'd start
picking up the Morse Code for an "A"
which is "dit dah, dit dah, dit dah."
If you went off on the other side,
it would be the Morse Code for an "N"
"dah dit, dah dit," so that way you would
know you'd have to turn back onto the beam.
If you stay on the beam till you get to the,
where its originating from you hit what's
called the "Cone of Silence" and then you
would pick up a steady sound on
the other side of the beam.
But we had Link Training all through
our pilots' training. I think by the time
I finished school I had about 80 hours
on the Link Trainer, I've got 80 hours in my
log book anyway, and it was well worth my
while because it taught you how to fly in fog.
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