How did a 1973 submersible crisis show the perils & promise of high-tech underwater exploration? On Now & Then, @HC_Richardson & @jbf1755 discussed American antecedents to the Titan tragedy. In the Time Machine, I look at the Johnson Sea Link incident: cafe.com/article/safety…
The Johnson Sea Link was the brainchild of Edwin A. Link. Raised in Binghamton, NY in the 1910s, Link’s father made organs & player pianos. Here’s an ad for the “Link-Es-Trion,” popular in roller rinks (@billboard, April 14, 1917):
The younger Link loved tinkering with the bellows & other parts of his father’s pianos. He also became fascinated with flying, and barnstormed in the 1920s, meeting aviation legends like Charles Lindbergh—Link at far right here (@bingulibraries, Nov. 4, 1928):
Link married his passion for machines with his passion for flying, crafting in 1928 the first marketable flight simulator, the Link Trainer. Here’s Link in this pioneering model (@bingulibraries, 1928):
In the mid-1930s, the Army Air Corps—after a string of training accidents—decided to invest in Link’s innovation. By the outbreak of World War II, whole rows of Link trainers lined military flight centers (@csmonitor, March 23, 1940):
The War obviously necessitated many further trainers. Here’s a little collage of cadets training in Link’s devices across the country (@bingulibraries, 1943):
Link continued to update the original trainer, creating larger models complete with advanced projected terrains and overhead domes (@therotarian, Dec. 1944):