I was browsing the Key Aero website today when the video article “How De Havilland pioneered the flight simulator” attracted my attention. Apparently, ‘Even as far back as the 1930s, de Havilland had thought of an ingenious way to train pilots…’ The article goes on to inform the reader/listener about the ‘de Havilland Link Trainer’.
Is this yet another example of Key Aero trying to rewrite history? Until now I had thought that Ed Link had pioneered the ‘Link’ trainer. I certainly had no idea DH had pioneered flight simulation!
By: DaveM2 - 30th December 2020 at 00:54
French aerobatic pilot Alfred Fronval pioneered the flight simulator made famous by Link
By: jamesinnewcastle - 29th December 2020 at 18:13
Hi
That is a Link trainer, I assume he means that it is the LInk Trainer at the de Havilland Museum. There were many many variants and they were built under license in many places. The first were very basic but still had many different layouts. As aircraft got more complex so did the trainers and again many variants. That certainly isn’t a 1930s version.
I think that I read that the first Link ‘aircraft’ was a fairground attraction, if so the idea wasn’t even based in real aviation!
Cheers
James
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December 29, 2020 at 4:44 pm