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When Kerbalkind first took flight, they had to rely on what they saw around them to navigate. Great if you have a keen eye, but not when it gets dark or if the weather gets too bad to see anything. This is where Link Kerman’s new invention, the Blue Box, comes in.
In here, a student pilot will be enclosed in total darkness, simulating what it is like to fly without visual references to guide him. He will have to rely on his cockpit instruments alone if he is to get to his destination safely. Opposite of him, his instructor will give him orders and check his progress at a desk connected to the Blue Box. On that desk is a device which draws the student’s flight path on a map, a duplicate of the student’s instruments, and a machine to simulate wind direction and speed on the pilot. After all, top-tier pilots do not let mild inconveniences such as wind stop them from carrying out their duties.
When this pilot is done, he will go on to deliver mail around the world.
- Historic footage of a student pilot learning to fly in a Link Trainer with an instructor checking his progress (both student and instructor unknown). Picture taken six years before the Second Imperial Wars broke out.
INSTRUCTOR SWIVEL CHAIR CONTROLS
- J
- L
The Link Trainer and the instructor’s desk on display in the SPH.
- It was difficult deciding what motors to use and in what order, and I had to look at my old swept-wing jet to figure out how to set up the action groups. In the end, I managed to set up the motors to obey the main steering control inputs.
- Since the pilot would be flying in complete darkness, I disconnected the cockpit lights from the main light button. The two small lights on the fuel tank in the opposite corner are just for decoration, which means they’re also disabled. In summary, the only working light is the overhead instructor desk lamp.
- I used two grip strip to mimic a conduit connecting the trainer itself to the instructor’s desk, since two smaller I-beams would have been too long.
Although I don’t expect much use out of this apart from decoration (and bragging rights for me, since nobody else has made a KSP replica of the Link Trainer), this craft has 2,650 charge units.
Description
The Link Trainer, also known as the “Blue Box” and “Pilot Trainer,” was first developed in 1929 by Edwin Link as a safe way to train pilots to fly on instruments alone. A student pilot would be enclosed in the cockpit while an instructor would relay instructions to him via microphone. The instructor’s desk would also consist of a large map and a device which drew the pilot’s track (had he been flying for real), a duplicate of the student’s instruments, and controls for the instructor to simulate winds. Over the years since its introduction, the Link Trainer has proven itself very effective in preparing pilots to fly when visibility was extremely poor.
At first, it was used in flying schools and amusement parks. Soon, when mail delivery pilots started crashing left and right due to their lack of experience flying in instrument flying conditions, the Air Corps purchased Link Trainers to prepare their pilots for that. Not long afterwards, American Airlines became the first commercial airline to purchase a Link trainer in 1937. The Blue Box eventually became standard equipment at every air training school in the United States and Allied nations. During WWII, Blue Box production skyrocketed as Link made over 10,000 of them.
As of June 2023, at least a hundred of them remain around the world – with most of them on display in the United States.
A stock aircraft called Link Trainer (aka Blue Box / ANT-T-18). Built with 34 of the finest parts, its root part is Mark2Cockpit.
Built in the SPH in KSP version 1.12.4.
Details
- Type: SPH
- Class: aircraft
- Part Count: 34
- Pure Stock
- KSP: 1.12.4
Jeb Kerman stepping out of the Link Trainer in utter disappointment, talking to his friend, Bill Kerman.
When Jeb heard that the first flight simulator
- or at least an operational model of it that survived - was coming to the Space Center, he was first in line to try it out. Of course, until then, he didn’t know what it looked like. Although Bill did know what the Link Trainer was, he lined up along with Jeb because he wanted to see it in action up-close and personal.
- JEB:
Why didn’t you warn me that this simulator would suck?
- BILL:
What do you mean?
- JEB:
For starters, it has no computer screen or heads-up display - not even with 4-bit graphics. It also has no sound effects, nav system, or onboard radar. Oh, and I can’t find the music settings.
- BILL:
Obviously none of those things were available when the Link Trainer was made. By the way, why were you looking for the music?
- JEB:
Because the simulators in Basic had those.
- BILL:
They did? Val never said anything about music.
- JEB:
I also can’t find the cockpit light switch. The only source of light I have is from the crummy glow-in-the-dark instrument panel.
- BILL:
It doesn’t have a light switch; the whole point was to get you used to flying in total darkness. By the way, the instrument panel was brighter back in those days, but the original material had to be replaced recently because it was radioactive.
- JEB:
You fly it then if you know so much about it.
That was when Bill immediately acted as the instructor
for the next pilot in line, an unnamed rookie from Nye Island.
Picture of the real thing and the instructor’s desk on display in the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, TX.
Another picture of the real thing and the instructor’s desk. This time, it’s in the WWII Gallery (Hangar One) of the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, OH.
- Photograph taken by me 10/9/2022
