Editing Flight simulator (section)

===The 1920s and 1930s===
[[File:Edlink pt1930.jpg|thumb|right|[[Link Trainer]] patent drawing, 1930]]

The best-known early flight simulation device was the [[Link Trainer]], produced by [[Edwin Albert Link|Edwin Link]] in [[Binghamton, New York]], United States, which he started building in 1927. He later patented his design, which was first available for sale in 1929.  The Link Trainer was a basic metal frame flight simulator usually painted in its well-known blue color.  Some of these early war era flight simulators still exist, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to find working examples.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://flyawaysimulation.com/news/4045/flight-simulator-technology-through-years/|title = Flight Simulator Technology Through the Years|access-date = 20 April 2011|last = Fly Away Simulation|date = 12 July 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111012134549/http://flyawaysimulation.com/news/4045/flight-simulator-technology-through-years/ |archive-date = 12 October 2011}}</ref>

The Link family firm in Binghamton manufactured player pianos and organs, and Ed Link was therefore familiar with such components as leather bellows and reed switches.  He was also a pilot, but dissatisfied with the amount of real flight training that was available, he decided to build a ground-based device to provide such training without the restrictions of weather and the availability of aircraft and flight instructors.  His design had a pneumatic motion platform driven by inflatable bellows which provided pitch and roll cues. A vacuum motor similar to those used in player pianos rotated the platform, providing yaw cues.  A generic replica cockpit with working instruments was mounted on the motion platform.  When the cockpit was covered, pilots could practice flying by instruments in a safe environment.  The motion platform gave the pilot cues as to real angular motion in pitch (nose up and down), roll (wing up or down) and yaw (nose left and right).<ref name=ASME>[http://files.asme.org/asmeorg/Communities/History/Landmarks/5585.pdf "ASME Landmarks: The Link Flight Trainer."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111217165813/http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5585.pdf |date=17 December 2011 }} ''American Society of Mechanical Engineers.'' Retrieved: 18 December 2011.</ref>

Initially, aviation flight schools showed little interest in the "Link Trainer". Link also demonstrated his trainer to the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF), but with no result. However, the situation changed in 1934 when the Army Air Force was given a government contract to fly the postal mail.  This included having to fly in bad weather as well as good, for which the USAAF had not previously carried out much training. During the first weeks of the mail service, nearly a dozen Army pilots were killed. The Army Air Force hierarchy remembered Ed Link and his trainer.  Link flew in to meet them at Newark Field in New Jersey, and they were impressed by his ability to arrive on a day with poor visibility, due to practice on his training device. The result was that the USAAF purchased six Link Trainers, and this can be said to mark the start of the world flight simulation industry.<ref name="ASME" />