When we think of flight simulators, we first think of video games, then we think of the computerized training programs that military pilots use to prepare for battle. But the first flight simulators came way before computers were available. The Link Trainer was a flight simulator used to train pilots during World War II! Tom Scott gives us an opportunity to look inside the “blue box” that new pilots used for practice instead of planes during the war. It looks a bit like the mechanical kiddy rides you see at grocery stores, and it is entirely mechanical. The Link Trainer would move according to how the trainee worked the controls, and instructors could change the machine’s response to simulate different weather conditions. You have to wonder how it simuated a crash. It’s altogether a really cool piece of technology for its time, and even cooler as an antique.
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Source: neatorama