Singer-Link Trainer GAT-1 Flight Simulator, c. 1971
The Singer-Link General Aviation (GAT-1) Flight Simulator is the first in a series of flight trainers for general aviation pilots, designed to teach students the basics of instrument flying before actual instructor accompanied flight.
Specs
Year: c. 1971
Capacity: One pilot in training
The Singer-Link General Aviation (GAT-1) Flight Simulator is the first in a series of flight trainers for general aviation pilots, designed to teach students the basics of instrument flying before actual instructor accompanied flight.
Since the first military pilots were trained at College Park in the early 1900s, there was an ongoing problem of student pilots and new pilots crashing and dying as they learned to fly. Many times these pilots also killed their instructors, passengers, and bystanders on the ground.
No practical solution existed until April 1929 when Edwin Link combined his love of flying with skills and materials from his father’s piano and pump organ company. He combined a rudimentary cockpit with organ parts powered with compressed air to create a device able to mimic an airplane’s motion on the ground. Link believed such a device could make learned to fly easier and cheaper.
The first flight simulator
There was little interest at first in the flight community. Link first sold his trainer to amusement parks and the Link Trainer flight simulator didn’t take off until 1934, when the US Army Air Corps, who had taken over the Airmail service, saw 66 crashes and 12 deaths in one month. They ordered six Link trainer to improve pilot skills for night flying and poor weather.
During the late 1930s and throughout World War II, Link evolved his trainers from a basic “blue box” capable of replicating flight motion to a variety of models able to replicate specific aircraft or operations like bombing, celestial navigation, and cross-country flying. By 1940, 35 nations were buying Link trainers for their military pilots, and the company had sold 6271 Link Trainers to the US Army and 1045 to the US Navy. Although military pilots flew various trainer aircraft, virtually all took initial blind-flying instruction in a Link.
The Link Trainer was the first true flight simulator. While ground-based flight simulation existed before it, the Link was a significant step forward and safety trained thousands of pilots in instrument navigation.
Instructors carefully watch the progress of a pilot-in-training in the Link Trainer. Courtesy of ASME Internationa.
An instructor sat at a nearby desk and transmitted radio messages to the student inside the “cockpit” which through their earphones. The instrument panel in front of the student replicated instruments which they used to “fly” through the various maneuvers provided by the instructor. The simulator moved and rotated on its turntable through vacuum bellows controlled by valves connected to the control wheel (or stick) and rudder pedals. The student’s “course” was traced on a map on the instructor’s desk, who would continue to simulate radio signals to the Trainer. The instructor created both calm and rough-air flying conditions, with slip stream simulators giving the controls the feeling of air passing over surface. The Trainer would also initiate a stall when recorded airspeed and attitude fall outside pre-determined limits. It would then go into a very realistic spin, with the instruments performing normally for such conditions.
The GAT-1 would move the cockpit 360 degrees at a tilt It was Link's first use of transistorized electronics.
Link Trainer and desk setup. Courtesy of Canadian Museum of Flight.
In 1954, Edwin Link sold his company to General Precision Equipment Corp. (later General Precision Systems) to focus on other interests. The company continued to produce and develop flight simulators for the military and for commercial airlines. In 1968, General Precision was bought by Singer Corporation, the same who makes sewing mahcines.
In 1971, Singer Corp. returned to Link’s roots and created the General Aviation Trainer, also known as the GAT-1. It was the first simulator designed specifically for the private pilot flying small aircraft. The GAT-1 could fully replicate the sights, sounds, and movement of flying a private single engine plane, but safely on the ground. It demonstrated to novice pilots how a plane responded to controls while also providing advanced training, like flying using only instruments and recovering from stalls and spins. Later models, the GAT-2 and GAT-3 simulated more complicated twin-engine airplanes.
John Greene was the manager owner of Columbia Air Center, the first licensed Black-owned and -operated airport in the nation. He also organized Washington, DC’s first African American high school aeronautics program at Phelps Vocational School. There, he taught aviation mechanics and engineering subjects. Greene was passionate about education and stayed current on aviation advancements. He acquired a Link Trainer for his classroom. He may have also acquired one for the Columbia Air Center. In 1946, he was the only Black attendee at a six-week Link Trainer training session in upstate New York. Link Trainers were vital for training pilots for WWII and Tuskegee Institute.
John Greene's students at Phelps Vocational School in Washington, DC. One student sits in a Link Trainer behind them.
Our Link Trainer
This simulator was donated to the museum by the University of Maryland’s Aerospace Engineering Department. Until 2016, the Department used this GAT-1 as part of their basic ground school program.
The name ‘Singer’ on the base—just like the sewing machine—is because the Singer Corp. bought the design from the company of its inventor Edwin Link in the 1950s.
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Plan your visit
Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-4pm
Closed Mondays and holidays
About the museum
College Park Airport is the world's oldest continuously-operating airport, open since 1909.
The College Park Aviation Museum preserves and shares the exciting history of the airport, this "Field of Firsts."
Tours and Groups
The museum offers guided tours for schools and groups of 10 or more.