Books
“The Pilot Maker” by Lloyd L. Kelly; 1970. Very interesting history of Ed Link and of course the Blue Box Link Trainers. Out of print for many years, but still available online at second-hand book distributers.
“From Sky to Sea; a Story of Edwin A. Link” by Susan van Hock; 2003. A story of Ed’s life emphasizing his later oceanographic years and inventions. Includes stories related to the author by his wife Marion.
Manuals
Handbook Inspection Requirements – USAF Instrument Flying Trainers – Type C-3 and AN-2550-1; Air Force, Ogden, Utah; May 10, 1956. AKA T.O. 43D5-2-6.
Handbook of Overhaul Instructions – Instrument Flying Trainers – Types C-2, -3, -4, and -5; Boss-Gould Co, April 20, 1943 / Revised April 25, 1944.
Handbook of Instructions for Maintenance of Kollsman Telegon Instruments on the Link Instrument and Radio Pilot Trainer; Kollsman Instrument Division of Square D Company; Elmhurst, NY, U.S.A.; date unknown. Aka Kollsman Manual for Link Trainer Instruments.
Link Instructor Manual; Charles A. Zweng, Pan-American Navigation Service; North Hollywood, Calif.; March 1, 1948. Our manual was owned by T/Sgt. Inselmann – anyone know him?
Operation and Service Instructions for Instrument Flying Trainer (AN-2550-1); Gateway Press Inc.; Louisville, Ky.; May 15, 1943, Revised March 1, 1945.
Parts Catalog, Instrument Flying Trainer Type AN2550-1; Gateway Press Inc.; Louisville, Ky.; December 10, 1943.
Type C-3 Trainer Handbook; Link, July 1, 1942.
Technical Papers
“A Modern Link Trainer Telegon Oscillator to Facilitate Testing”; 2011 updated 2014. Available at Linktrainer.net for free distribution and copy.
“Restoring the Link Trainer Telegon Oscillator”; 2010. Available at Linktrainer.net for free distribution and copy. We relied on this excellent paper to restore our Telegon oscillators. A tip of the hat to the fine linktrainer.net folks!
“The Link Trainer Slip Stream Simulator”; aka “Rebuilding Link Trainer Slip Stream Simulators”; 2010. Available at Linktrainer.net for free distribution and copy.
Maps
CHART AREA DATED SCALE
Boston March 1949 3.1875″ per 10 miles
Chicago August 1948 3.0″ per 10 miles
New York City February 1949 3.1875″ per 10 miles
Cincinnati, OH No date
La Guardia Field No date 1.2675″ per 1 mile ADF Chart.
Links
Parts & materials
BlueBox inventory:
Center for Technology & Innovation, Inc., Binghamton, NY. They maintain an inventory of parts for Link Flight Trainers from the 1940s and early 1950s. www.ctandi.org. Ask for Gordy.
Bellow cloth & glues:
Check out Schaff Piano at schaffpiano.com and D. C. Ramey at dcramey.com
Bellow glue:
Try D. C. Ramey Piano Company’s PNEU-GLOO with their heavy pneumatic cloth for bellows. For bellows that have a cloth gap at the hinge area, try pillow ticking to replace the hinge with hide glue.
Clock oil:
Good for lubricating the tiny bearings in the instruments. Liberty Oil Products has an excellent 100% synthetic oil for lubricating clocks. The 1 oz. container includes a handy long stainless steel needle tip applicator. It is safe on plastic and painted surfaces if a drop goes awry.
Leather nuts:
Real leather nuts are available from player-care.com
Try replacing old leather nuts in the turning motor with plastic ones. Leather nuts supplied today may contain acid which can destroy steel threaded rods over time. A plastic nut with a ¼” hex head X #50 hole looks similar to a turning motor’s leather nut.
Plastic nuts are available from Klann Organ Supply, www.klannorgan.com . They have a #50 center hole and will go on to most small threads. They tend to crack if the thread is too big so it is best to drill out the center hole to about 0.010” under the outside diameter of the threads you are going on to. #50 = 0.070”.
Leather preservative:
Great for seat and leather nuts. Obenauf’s Heavy Duty LP (Leather Preservative) is very good.
Rough air torsion spring:
Jones Spring Co. Inc.; P/N TML-0373-028
90 degree torsion spring
OD = 0.373” ID = 0.317
Wire diameter 0.028”
Leg length = 1.00”
Deflection angle = 90 degrees
Torque (lb-in) = 0.55 (original unknown)
Total coils = 2.25 (original only has 1.25)
Tallow lubricant & tallow lubricant with graphite:
Tallow lubricant works where wood parts rub metal. For valve slides, where surfaces mate, graphite or graphite tallow can be used. Dcramey.com is a good source for both.
Tubes for Radio & Telegon Oscillator;
“BlueBox Tube Substitution List”;
