Link’s Model ANT-18 trainer was produced after the model C-5. We don’t know what base our trainer was located at yet. It ended up in one of those storage units for years. Then the trainer was possessed for unpaid storage fees. Kenneth R. King, of Little Rock, Arkansas obtained it. He and his family Mr. Gayland C. King, Helen M. King, and John W. King donated it to the Arkansas Aviation Historical Society and the Aerospace Education Center in the mid-1990s. Restoration was completed by Tom Smith, Tom Johnson and employees of Central Flying Service in 1996. Both of these guys have since died. The Blue Box reverted back to the King family when the Aerospace Education Center closed its doors on January 1, 2011. Bob and Ron purchased the unit from Kenneth King in July 2017.
Model ANT-18 S/N 1444
After a good cleaning, the exterior looks very nice. The Central Flying Service did a great covering and paint job. We are not sure if the system was restored to an operational condition. Unfortunately some of the systems are missing; for example, the desk’s instruments, the wind drift calculator, and the placards with the serial numbers. We guess they were carefully removed sometime for preservation, and then lost.