FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Rini Paiva
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Melissa Davis
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INVENTOR OF THE FLIGHT SIMULATOR TO JOIN RANKS IN NATIONAL INVENTORS
HALL OF FAME
Edwin A. Link’s Invention Used For On-Ground Aerial Training Saved Many Lives
WASHINGTON, DC (February 11, 2003) Nothing beats experience when it comes to being a pilot, but flying
can be expensive and dangerous. Thanks to Edwin Link’s invention of the flight simulator, pilots now have a safer
and less expensive way to gain valuable experience.
The National Inventors Hall of Fame announced today that Edwin A. Link, Jr. would be inducted posthumously into
the Hall of Fame in recognition of his invention of the flight simulator and flight trainer. To commemorate the
centennial of the Wright Brothers' first powered flight, the 31 st annual induction of the National Inventors Hall of
Fame is recognizing pioneers in the aviation and aerospace industries. Link’s induction will take place at the annual
ceremony in May.
Despite his father’s objections, Link received his pilot’s license in 1927 and purchased his first airplane the
following year. While working for his father at his piano and organ factory in Binghamton, New York, Link came
up with the idea to build a mechanical device that could be used for teaching rudimentary piloting skills instead of
using aerial flight training, which was expensive and dangerous for learning pilots. Drawing from his expertise in
air-driven pianos and pipe organs, Link used organ parts and compressed air to build the first flight simulator.
He emerged from the basement of his father’s factory in 1929 with the first version of the flight simulator and
formed the Link Aeronautical Corporation to market the product. Production was set up in the factory’s basement,
and at first the only buyers were amusement parks. Then he started Link Flying School, which used the trainer as
the basis of the curriculum, but during the onset of the Great Depression there were few takers.
It wasn’t until 1934 that Link found success with the flight simulator after the Army Air Corps suffered several high
profile accidents while flying the mail. Six orders for trainers were placed, which Link modified specifically for
advanced instrument flying. The instrument trainer’s popularity grew, and with the permission of the U.S.
government, Link conducted business with several foreign countries. In 1935, Link Aviation Devices, Inc. was
founded. Employing 1,500 people during World War II, the company manufactured up to 80 trainers a week.
Although he never graduated high school, Link received five honorary college degrees as well as numerous awards
from organizations including the Smithsonian Institution, the Royal Aeronautical Society of London and
Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute.
The youngest son of Edwin Sr. and Katherine Martin, Link was born in 1904 in Huntington, Indiana and grew up in
Binghamton, New York. In 1931 he married Marion Clayton, a reporter for the Binghamton newspaper, and they
had two sons. After his success with the pilot trainer, Link’s interest left aeronautics and focused on oceanography.
Link invented several devices to explore the mysteries of the sea, including a mobile unmanned television camera
for probing the sea bottom, a small submarine, and a submersible decompression chamber. By establishing the Link
Foundation, he also distributed grants to universities and other nonprofit institutions for research in aeronautics and
oceanography. He died in 1981 and is buried in New York.
The not-for-profit National Inventors Hall of Fame® is the premier organization in America dedicated to honoring
and fostering creativity and invention. Each year a new class of inventors is inducted into the Hall of Fame in
recognition of their patented inventions that make human, social and economic progress possible. Founded in 1973
by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and the National Council of Intellectual Property Law Associations, the
Hall's permanent home is Akron, Ohio, and serves as both a museum and an educational programming resource.
For information on the National Inventors Hall of Fame, you can visit the organization’s web site at
www.invent.org.
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