Link’s “Blue Box” – the first aircraft training simulator
Many people who live in Binghamton are aware of the long history of technological research, development, and manufacturing work done locally by companies like IBM, General Electric, BAE, and Lockheed Martin, with many cool products in the computing and military realms being developed here. It is often forgotten, however, that some of the first aircraft simulators ever created were developed here by a local entrepreneur named Edwin Link!
The son of a pipe organ manufacturer, Link developed an interest in flying in the 1910’s, and began taking flying lessons around 1920 or so. Frustrated by the lack of any devices that could provide training for potential fliers before stepping into a cockpit, Link worked with engineers and mechanical assemblers from the Link organ factory in the late 1920’s to design and build a mockup of a then-contemporary airplane cockpit with controls operated by air pressure from a bellows adapted from those used in the Link pipe organs! This cockpit was mounted on a platform which could move in three dimensions – tilting forward or back with the pitch control, rolling left or right with the roll control, or yawing horizontally left or right with the pedals. This motion of the platform, tied with input from the pilot into the corresponding controls, provided a simulation of the motion of an aircraft in flight, in three dimensions; this concept is still key to realistic (FAA-certified) flight simulators in use today by commercial or military pilot training schools.
Link initially manufactured a few for use at amusement parks or for training at local airports (including Endicott and Cortland), but saw the potential for widespread commercial application as the market for airplanes outside of the military and stunt/barnstorming markets increased; and he began promoting his simulators around the country. His commercial breakthrough came when the U.S. Army Air Corps (which would become the Air Force after WWII) began transporting air mail for the U.S. Post Office in 1934, and experienced many fatal accidents when new pilots encountered inclement weather or other unfamiliar flying conditions. Link demonstrated his simulator to officials from the Air Corps, and they were sufficiently impressed by it – as well as by Link’s ability to fly in hazardous weather using instruments and training acquired through use of his simulator – to place an order for 6 trainers. When the pilots who trained using these simulators demonstrated remarkably improved abilities compared with their peers, the Air Corps ordered more, and Link’s fledgling Link Aviation Devices company began producing the little “Blue Box” simulators (as they were nicknamed) from their factory in Hillcrest, just north of the city of Binghamton. The onset of WWII and the success of the Air Corps’ training using these simulators convinced the U.S. and U.K. militaries to order thousands of them, and Link’s simulators were soon seen as essential for use in training military pilots. As the commercial aviation industry expanded after the second World War, initially using some of the same aircraft used by the Allied forces and flown by ex-military pilots, Link expanded into this field as well, and became the preeminent aircraft simulator manufacturer for the next three decades, providing training equipment for governments and corporations around the world and even supporting special projects like Lockheed’s SR-71 Blackbird and NASA’s Apollo program.
After corporate mismanagement, international competition, and a hostile takeover resulted in the dismantling of Singer-Link (the successor to Link Aviation Devices) in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, several companies picked up the pieces and continued the legacy of aircraft simulator design and manufacturing, including L-3 Communications, which still has a presence in the Binghamton area today and is responsible for the creation and maintenance of aircraft simulators for programs like the United States Air Force’s C-17 cargo planes. Several other companies in Binghamton also thrive on the legacy of Link’s simulators, including KRATOS Technology and Training Solutions and Simulation and Control Technologies – both of whom design and manufacture aircraft simulators in the Binghamton area – and BAE and Lockheed Martin, who use aircraft simulators created by companies like these to develop avionics hardware and software for commercial and military applications in Endicott and Owego. Decades after Edwin Link was inspired to find a better way to teach himself how to fly, the technological field he pioneered is still a vital part of the training processes for thousands of pilots around the world, and is still a major component of the Triple Cities’ economy.
Sources:
“Link, Edwin Albert”. Nationalaviation.org. The National Aviation Hall of Fame, 31 Oct. 2016. Web. 3 Nov. 2016.
“L-3 Link Simulation & Training: History.” Link.com. L-3 Link Simulation & Training, 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 3 Nov. 2016.
Tomayko, James E. “Crew-training simulators.” NASA.gov NASA April 1987. Web. 3 Nov. 2016.