- When I say "flight simulator" for this video,
I don't mean like a video game.
I mean something that teaches a new pilot
how to actually fly a plane
without having to find the time and money
for an expensive aircraft, plus the fuel,
plus the instructor that could go up with them.
Now, I thought that back before modern computers,
the only way to learn to fly would be... to fly.
Surely you'd need a screen and a computer
and a load of expensive microelectronics.
But no, during the Second World War,
more than half a million pilots had lessons
on the Link Trainer,
which is named after its inventor, Ed Link.
In the thirties, when it was first invented,
it was treated as not much more than a carnival ride
and then along came the war, and suddenly,
it was very much in demand.
Thousands and thousands of these "blue boxes" were made.
Some do still survive,
but there are only a few that are kept in working order.
This one is at the Museum of Science and Technology
in Syracuse, New York,
and I'm going to sort of learn how to fly.
- So what we have here is a Link Trainer.
It was designed by Edwin Link.
It's called the blue box by many
because it was just a... pretty much a wooden blue box.
But it allowed pilots to train on different aircraft
during World War II and learn how to fly them
in a safe environment.
- That could've been more graceful!
- This is the toggle on and off for the ignition.
- That's your ignition?
- Yeah, the top switch.
That'll just turn it on.
And the way we have it set up now
is just to rotate in a circle
so that the kids can get an experience. - Okay, yeah.
- There's going to be two directions of motion, obviously.
So you have your side to side and your front to back.
- Yep.
- Ed Link's father was in the business of dealing with pipe organs,
which are all-mechanical systems using air pressure
and bellows and mechanical reeds and relays and things.
He took those skills he learned from his father
and designed the Link Trainer.
- I want you to test the joystick.
It's way less sensitive than a traditional joystick
that you're used to on a video game.
And the reason it takes so long
is because what's actually happening
is that those bellows are inflating.
- Right. - So when you shift left,
the right bellows are inflating.
- Okay, so it's... - When you shift right,
the left bellows are inflating to tip you side to side
or same thing for the front to back.
- So it's actually, physically going... - Inflating.
- So the Link Trainer is all analog.
When you move any of the controls,
they're linked mechanically to systems
that allow valves to open and close with air pressure.
So there's no electronics.
There's no servo motors.
There's nothing of that sort.
- I'm making adjustments
and I think I'm keeping this straight.
I've got rudder control as well...
That's definitely not straight now, okay!
[laughing]
I think I'm now going straight and level.
I'm going to.
Oh, I am not going straight and level.
[laughing]
Wow, that was...
that is confusing.
- Isn't it?
It's disorienting.
As soon as that lid closes.
- Nothing had ever been designed like it before.
It was a brand new piece of equipment to train pilots.
Since it's a mechanical system,
it is relatively complicated to keep working.
- This is not a substitute for actually flying a plane,
of course, but when lots of pilots had to be trained fast,
this was better than nothing,
actually much, much better than nothing,
because every plane that was being used for instruction
was a plane not in the air on the front lines.
Learning in here meant a trainee pilot
would be much, much faster at taking lessons in the air
because they were already familiar with the instruments
and even the basics of flying at night
or in poor visibility.
Different versions of the trainer came with different features.
Maybe a change of instruments or an instructor's desk
that plotted the course that the trainee was following.
The instructor could even make some of the models
seem to stall, sending them into a spin
with all the instruments behaving more or less
as they would in reality.
As for me, I'm just going to have another go flying.
- People actually trained in the Link
and they had different methods,
depending on what airplane they were going to fly.
They could actually hone what the trainer would do
to give the pilots a realistic feel.
- There's a little dial over there.
So they can throw a weather pattern at you
or a direction or an altitude change,
and it tracks whether you're making those changes.
- Is it possible to unlock everything
and, like, just see how well I can do?
- If I get a screwdriver, I can unlock the back for you.
- Okay, good luck to...
- Getting a little bit more c-- waaaugh!
Okay.
- Behind me, we have an actual piece of equipment
where the trainer would sit.
The pilot would be in the blue box.
The trainer would be sitting here.
And they could actually use maps of the areas
they were going to fly over
and mimic that in the trainer for the pilot.
They were getting a real sense of what the aircraft could do.
- This is much more difficult than I thought it was going to be!
- Everything an airplane would do, it can mimic.
So, it's pretty robust in that sense.
- Oh, whoa, that's a mistake.
I lost concentration for a second.
- Originally, all the instruments worked.
They gave the pilot exactly what he needed,
horizon, altitude, speed.
But they were painted with luminous paint made from radium.
Radium is highly radioactive.
Basically, they pretty much had to rip 'em all out.
So we don't have the actual dials any longer.
They're just stickers in there.
- So I don't have instruments in here
because they did not survive the last 80 years,
but this feels level to me.
[engine whirring]
I can hear the bellows, so we can dive forward.
That actually scared me just a little!
That felt like I was diving in a plane.
I know it's just a little box on a motor,
but that genuinely felt a little bit like diving.
- The impact on the Second World War for the Link Trainer...
many people believe it was one
of the most instrumental things in winning World War II,
among other things.
- I know it's going to look ridiculous on camera.
This is just a blue box steadily spinning on a pedestal,
but when you're inside
and this is the only frame of reference, yeah,
I can absolutely see why this worked.
[engine whirring]
I'm going to look back at the footage for this
and I'm going to realize I've just been spinning all the time.