A CAPTIVAIR T-6D at Perrin Air Force Base, The CAPTIVAIR system allowed a cadet to literally fly the aircraft, getting a feel for everything in the cockpit, without actually leaving the graound. the enlarged cowling and cooling fan kept the engine from overheating during ground runups. (Merritt via Menard)

MODEL C-3LINK TRAINER

LINK TRAINER Though the link trainer was not a plane, but this invaluable piece of equipment is included because it was an important LINK" in training. The link trainer pictured is model C-3, which is the type used during WW II for teaching all pilots proper procedures of instrument flight, such as using a radio range for determining an airplane's position in bad weather and a subsequent let-down to a field for landing. The Link was mounted on a base which permitted the trainer to turn, tilt and bounce as the instructor (who sat at a desk outside the trainer) created rough air and put the pilot through simulated flight conditions. An operator sat at the desk and transmitted radio signals, which the "pilot" in the link heard though his ear phones. The pilot "flew" the link through various turns, climbs, and descents, and the link's "course" was traced in red ink by the remote "bug" on a map on the table. After a flight was completed, the pilot could study the redline course to determine what he might have done incorrectly.

There was no AIR CONDITIONING in these trainers...and on a hot west Texas day, it got pretty hot inside this box'. Many a young trainee almost crashed and burned--not from lack of flying skills, but from the heat! Today, we use computers

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