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CHAPTER 8

INSTRUCTING WITH SIMULATORS

WHY SIMULATORS

Men struggled with the problem of suitable

devices for training pilots as early as World War I

and even developed a few crude models at that

time, but with very limited success. By the early

1930’s men like Edwin A. Link and U.S. Navy

Commander H.B. Cecil were deeply involved in

efforts to build more suitable machines for

training naval aviators. The Navy initially joined

the Army in an effort which culminated in the

development of an Army-Navy Trainer,

Model-18 (ANT-18). Figure 8-1 is a photograph

of this early model flight simulator.

Recognizing that training pilots was a

complex endeavor and that the problems faced

by the aviator were not simply those of holding

the aircraft level and navigating, the Navy

increased its efforts to accelerate the training

process and provide more realistic, applicable

training techniques. On 30 April 1941, the

Special Devices Division (SDD) was established

within the Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer).

Chapter 1 provides a brief history of the

evolution of training devices since 1941 in terms

of the Naval Training Device Center, now Naval

Training Equipment Center. and Admiral Luis

deFlorez who was the original driving force

behind the development of training and training

devices. The evolution of the simulator and

those used in our modern Navy are discussed in

this chapter.

THE LINK TRAINER

The first really big one was the 1-CA-1,

built by Link and procured for the Navy in

1947. Compared to present day trainers, the

1-CA-1 flight simulator was a clicking, hissing.

electromechanical-vacuumized monstrosity. It

was prone to frequent mechanical failure and

misalinements, requiring continual checking and

adjustment. However, considering its place in

the evolutionary cycle and the state-of-the-art

during its period of use. the 1-CA-1 was a

marvelous training vehicle. Thousands of hours

have been recorded in the old "blue-boxes", and

hundreds of naval aviators received valuable

instrument flight training through their use.

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Figure 8-1.--The ANT-18, early flight trainer,

built by Link Aviation.

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