Developments in aircraft, such as variable pitch propellers,
retractable undercarriage and higher speeds made training in cockpit drill
essential. The mock-up fuselage was introduced as an aid to training in these
procedures. One such device was the Hawarden Trainer, made from the centre
section of a Spitfire fuselage, which enabled training in the procedures of a
complete operational flight. The Links too, were developed to the stage where
the instrument layout and performance of specific aeroplanes were duplicated; the
U.S. Army-Navy Trainer, Model 18 (ANT-18), for example, was designed for training
in AT-6 and SNJ flying.
In 1939 the British requested Link to design a trainer which could be
used to improve the celestial navigation capabilities of their crews who were
ferrying "surplus" U.S. aircraft across the Atlantic. Such a trainer could also
be used to improve bombing accuracy during night raids over Europe. Ed Link,
together with the aerial navigation expert, P. Weems, worked out the design of a
massive trainer suitable for use by an entire bomber crew, and housed in a 45
foot high silo-shaped building. This was the Celestial Navigation Trainer. The
trainers incorporated a large-size fuselage similar to that of the conventional
Link Trainer, but which could accommodate the pilot, navigator, and bomber. The
pilot flew the trainer, which included all the facilities and instruments of the
smaller conventional Link Trainer, while a bomb aimer's station provided the
appropriate sight and targets over which the trainer flew. The navigator was
provided with all the radio aids and, in addition, was provided with an elaborate
celestial view from which he could take his appropriate astro sights. The stars,
of which enough (12) were collimated, were fixed to a dome which was given a
movement to correspond with the apparent motion of the stars with time and
changes in bomber latitude and longitude.
The first Celestial Navigation Trainer was completed in 1941, and the
RAF placed an order for sixty of them. Unfortunately, only a limited number of
these trainers were installed in Britain, such as at the Link Trainer School at
Elstree, and at a number of special RAF stations. The balance were returned to
the U.S. Air Force under Reverse Lease Lend, with the exception of three sets of
components which were subsequently used for navigational trainers. However,
hundreds of these devices were installed and operated in the United States.
Throughout the war instructors on various RAF stations were
contributing their ideas to training and numerous "home-made" devices were
constructed due to the long delivery times and low priority given to the
manufacture of training aids. An early development was the "instructional
fuselage". Such a device would consist of fuselage of the desired type mounted
on stands inside a hangar. It could then be used to train air crews in the
drills that they have to carry out in the particular aircraft that they are being
trained on. Services like, hydraulic, electrical, and pneumatic, and their
recording instruments were made to work in a normal manner, so that the various
drills carried out by the crew were realistic. Bomb-dropping procedure and
abandon aircraft drills by parachute and dinghy were also carried out; the bombs
being released into sand trays beneath the aircraft, (duds presumably). :-)