Have you ever heard the name Edwin Link? Probably not. Yet many pilots know him. Mister Link was a pioneer in flight training. He invented a machine that helped teach new pilots to fly.

Edwin Link was born in nineteen-oh-four and died in nineteen-eighty-one. He became a member of the Aviation Hall of Fame in nineteen seventy-six.

The device he invented is called the Link Trainer. Link Trainers did not really fly. But they were designed to copy flight. New pilots could use flight controls and instruments as if they were inside a real plane. A new pilot learned how to fly in the air by flying a Link Trainer that never left the ground.

The Link Company improved their trainers over time. More experienced pilots used them to learn to fly using only flight instruments to find their way. Edwin Link made it possible for many pilots to learn difficult skills in complete safety.

Just south of the city of San Diego, California is a small hill that looks toward the Pacific Ocean. A huge airplane wing rises out of the ground there. It is a monument to John Montgomery, another member of the Aviation Hall of Fame.

Not many people remember John Montgomery now. Yet many aviation experts believe he was the father of basic flying. He flew in gliders...aircraft that have no power.

John Montgomery built gliders for more than twenty years. He died in a glider accident in nineteen-eleven. Mister Montgomery made most of his flights before anyone understood how to control an aircraft in flight.

Montgomery’s study of flight and his attempts at flying led the way for the many others who followed. He became a member of the Aviation Hall of Fame in nineteen-seventy-three.