Welcome to July! Can you believe we are halfway through 2026? We are kicking off the second half of the year with a batch of new manuals and documents for the Link Aviation Trainer, along with a few instrument manuals.

Link Aviation’s pilot trainers were revolutionary in helping prepare new pilots for action during World War II. According to the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum, more than 50,000 American pilots used these early flight simulators. The device has also been recognized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

The 11 new manuals uploaded for the Link Aviation Trainer cover several different components and include operation and overhaul manuals for the Celestial Navigation Trainer - an incredible device that “simulated flying conditions in daylight, darkness or both in sequence.” It included a celestial dome representing the northern hemisphere and lamps to create star patterns recreating major constellations. It even had its own AN standard.

Imagine coming across one of these and setting it up in your backyard.

These Link documents, along with the documents on the Engine Analyzer Trainer, are courtesy of the Aero Trader collection.

We have also uploaded three instrument manuals that were donated to us by the Tri-State Warbird Museum in Batavia, Ohio.

We also want to remind you that since the start of the year, we have added more than 900 new manuals to AirCorps Library. You can find details on all these manuals by exploring our previous blog posts.

You can get exclusive historic warbird manuals delivered straight to your email inbox each week. Sign up now for the AirCorps Library weekly newsletter by clicking this link.