Reminiscing: the good ol' Link.

[Staiduk]

'Lo all!
I'm certain there are a few pilots here old enough to be trained on the venerable Link Trainer. I was just going through some old photos with my old squadron today and came across a few that brough up some fun memories.
My first RCACC squadron was 87th Eagle out of Welland, Ontario. We had a Link Trainer in pieces. How the heck we got the damn thing I have NO idea. Well; some officer got it into his head it'd be a good idea to restore it and get the old clunker working again - and this one was real old; 1950 at the latest (so about 30 yrs at the newest.) Of course - who'se the best people to fix it up? You bet - Cadets.
So there we went; cleaning, scrubbing, tapping away at this poor old wood-and-fabric doghouse; with officers - IOW; people that think they know what they're doing - worked on the hard bits. The bellows; pneumatics, etc. I tell you; it was quite a proud moment when we got the little plane mounted on the base; as you can imagine. The poor thing actually looked pretty good - gleaming dark blue with a silver wooden instrument hood.  
Well; the day came when the contraption was pronounced "done" by the...ahem...experts. Man were we proud; looking at what we'd created. Link's aren't very big; but when compared with the pile of junk in the corner it was the year before; it looked enormous - a lovely monument to what a few dozen eager hands can do in a year and a bit.
Our CO got the first ride. He was...fairly large. They started the thing up; it made the most unholy rattling racket you've ever heard! Maj. Smith climbed up into the thing; made a few test-turns. Worked great. So he tried a nice sharp turn to the port; just in time for the left bellows to let go. Hee hee - I never knew you could spin a Link Trainer! It went round a few times before we could shut it off.
Couple of months later; the bellows was repaired; and we tried her again - worked great; save those had to be the loudest instrument flights on Earth - I doubt an F-18 makes so much noise. (They'e apparently pretty quiet when they're working right; I've been told.)
Everyone got a turn; and we wound up using the thing fairly successfully for ground instruction. When I earned my Glider Scholarship; they congratulated me by giving me several hours of free time in the thing; then locking the damn hood with me inside for about an hour, the jerks.
Lol - just remembering a fine time of life - that old piece of firewood had loads of personality; sure 'nuff.
Cheers!

[FLYING_TRUCKER]

Yes I remember the Link well.

I think I did about 10 hours in it before going on the DHC-1.

We have one here at the museum and I do believe the Air Cadet Camp have a working one as well.

If you were to compare the old Link to the simulator that they use at air crew selection now they are almost the same size and style.  The new ones are all plastic with computer screens and I do believe they are green, can't quite remember though on the color.

Cheers....Happy Landings...Doug

[Hagar]

LOL

[Rifleman]

We in Toronto at 246 Squadron, back in the mid 60's had a Link too.....ours was not in any shape to be used for anything more than a doorstop, but I do remember having a good look at it back then ( got to sit in it for a bit)......
I don't have any recollection of one at our summer camp, but then we didn't have all that much access to things on the base in Trenton back then either......I spent 4 summers at the camp, starting at LAC for '65, then moved up through the ranks till '68, when I made WO2 for my final summer stay on the base............