At the required distance from the Link, a 1:48 scale model aircraft was positioned 6.5 ft from the ground and mounted on a castored trolley. This was fitted with a reflector sight (modified for the purpose) and a spotlight triggered by a firing a button on the control column. It instructed fighter pilots in deflection shooting combined with aircraft recognition and range judging, using a standard Link trainer. There were a large number of gunnery training simulators in use throughout WWII This particular device was one of a number of вЂdual purposeвЂ™ synthetic trainers for gunnery and recognition. The name of this device is usually mispelled as Edmunds or Edmonds it was invented by F/O Morgan Rice Edmondes. As well asВ flying their own plane they needed to shoot down enemy fighters or be shot down themselves.ДЄrgus Newspaper Collection of Photographs, State Library of Victoria It all helped.ДЇighter pilots needed good training if they were to survive a battle in the air. Woe betide us if we didnвЂ™t shout out immediately! We quickly learned the value of the mirror. A piece of string was arranged so that the instructor could surreptitiously pull the card away. This was covered by a piece of card hanging on a hook, painted to blend in with the skyscape on the wall. When we werenвЂ™t blindfold, there was a masterpiece of sophistication вЂ“ on the wall behind us was a head-on view of a Me 109 at firing range. They had a вЂњsimulatorвЂќ even more primitive than the Link it was a scrap fuselage from a crash, the cockpit was intact, controls and instruments did nothing, but we had to memorise the position and function of everything so that we could lay hands on it blindfold. We mugged up PilotвЂ™s Notes every spare moment of the day and half the night. I see they put me into a Spitfire nine days after I got there (cautiously they gave me a quick dual check on a Master вЂ“ which IвЂ™d last flown five days before вЂ“ just to make sure that I hadnвЂ™t forgotten how). I arrived at Hawarden, was allocated to my Training Flight, and got down to work straight away. This candid description of the Hawarden Trainer was posted by Danny42C when he was 96 yo. Issue of kit вЂ“ show at night in Chester вЂ“ Received parcels from Shirl & Grandma.ДЇlight in morning вЂ“ on Hawarden trainer and Spit cockpit drill. The following extract is from Letters Home: The Wartime Correspondence and Diary of John Edwin Gardiner RCAF (1919-1942)ДЄrrived #57 O.T.U. RAF Hawarden near Chester was home to No 57 Operational Training Unit. One such device was the HawardenВ Trainer made from the centre section of a SpitfireВ fuselage which enabled training in the procedures of aВ complete operational flight. (p142)Дevelopments in aircraft design such as variableВ pitch propellers, retractable undercarriages and higherВ speeds made sound training in cockpit drill essential,В and the fuselage mock-up was introduced to assist withВ these procedures. Importantly, in considering the development of simulation in education and training, practice on the Link trainer was considered part of air rather than ground work. Curricula divided hours spent in the air into transition, formation,В navigation, instrument, and acrobatics. (In Training to Fly вЂ“ Military Flight Training 1907-1945 Rebecca Hancock Cameron documented how flight training in the US Air Force evolved during WW2 and use of the Link Trainer. This illustration of a Link Trainer used by the RAF is from a British WW2 Propaganda Poster вЂ“ How things work. The synthetic flying trainer most widely used in WW2 was the Link trainer which was modified to represent particular planes andВ include improvements introduced on operational aircraft.В The background to the Link Trainer is described in the previous section on Flight Simulators. This page covers the training of pilots, the training of other aircrew is here. In the UK the Air Ministry established a Synthetic Training Committee and soon gunners, bombardiers, navigators, wireless operators, etc. This was so that training took the fewest crews and minimum equipment away from combat. It was absolutely essential to the war effort to have the most rapid trainingВ of large numbers of personnel a few instructors and very limited access to equipment. Simulators or, as they were called in WW2, Synthetic Training Devices wereВ developed to train new aircrew in an efficient and cost-effective manner and they werenвЂ™t just for pilots and simulators.

Wwii training aircraft