Editing Edwin Albert Link (section)

==Aviation==
===Aviator===
He took his first flying lesson in 1920.<ref name=HOF>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalaviation.org/link-edwin/ |title=Edwin Link: Innovator/Inventor/Industrialist |publisher=National Aviation Hall of Fame |access-date=August 27, 2012}}</ref> In 1927, he obtained the first [[Cessna]] airplane ever delivered and eked out a living by [[barnstorming]], charter flying and giving lessons.<ref name=HOF/>

As a young man, Edwin Link used apparatus from his father's automatic piano and organ factory (of the [[Link Piano and Organ Company]]) to produce an advertising airplane. A punched roll and pneumatic system from a [[player piano]] controlled sequential lights on the lower surfaces of the wings to spell out messages like "[[Endicott Johnson Corporation|ENDICOTT-JOHNSON SHOES]]". To attract more attention, he added a set of small but loud organ pipes, also controlled by the roll.

===Flight simulator===
[[File:Link Trainer (WCAM).JPG|thumb|right|Link Trainer at the Western Canada Aviation Museum]]
In the 1920s, he developed the [[Link Trainer]], "a fuselage-like device with a cockpit and controls that produced the motions and sensations of flying."<ref name=HOF/><ref>[https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/af/90/f1/d285ed1242b560/US1825462.pdf US patent no.1825462A, (held by Edwin A. Link Jr.), dated 29 September 1931, for a "Combination training device for student aviators and entertainment apparatus ".]</ref>

Much of the pneumatic system was adapted directly from technology used in the organ factory;<ref name="Trainer">{{cite web |url=http://www.starksravings.com/linktrainer/linktrainer.htm |title=Link Trainer Restoration |access-date=2011-08-31 |publisher=starksravings.com}}</ref> and, in the 1970s, Link used parts scavenged from an inoperative trainer to help rebuild a Link pipe organ.

===Link Aeronautical Corporation===
He formed the [[Link Aviation Devices|Link Aeronautical Corporation]] in 1929 to manufacture the trainers.<ref name=HOF/> His few early customers were [[amusement park]]s, not flight training schools; the early models served as amusement rides.<ref name=HOF/> Finally, in 1934, the [[United States Army Air Corps]] bought six.<ref name=HOF/> During [[World War II]], more than half a million airmen were taught using the Link Trainer.<ref name=NAP>{{cite book |title=Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering, Volume 2 (1984) |year=1984 |publisher=[[National Academy of Engineering]] |isbn=0-309-03482-5 |page=174 |url=http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=565&page=174  |access-date=August 27, 2012}}</ref> In 2000 the Link Trainer was placed on the [[List of Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmarks]].

===Link Aviation===
Together with his wife Marion Clayton Link, whom he had married in 1931, Edwin Link managed the very successful Link Aviation, Inc.<ref name="LinkColl"/><ref name="LinkBio"/> He contributed a great deal to the Binghamton, New York area, where he set up a production facility that at one time employed thousands of workers. Although the company later passed through different ownership, its legacy can be traced to the current [[L3Harris Technologies|L3Harris]] division known as Link Training and Simulation, now headquartered in [[Arlington, Texas]] (though it still maintains some operations in Binghamton).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.link.com/about/pages/history.aspx |title=History - L-3 Link Simulation & Training |access-date=2016-09-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170606213135/https://www.link.com/about/pages/history.aspx |archive-date=2017-06-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===The Link Foundation===
In 1953, Edwin and Marion Link established The Link Foundation. The foundation continues to provide grants and fellowships in [[aeronautics]], simulation and training, ocean engineering, energy, and organizations of interest to the Links.<ref name="FIT Bio"/><ref name="Foundation"/>