San Diego Air & Space Museum

Artifact Collection

Link Trainer

Beginning with the Wright Brothers first successful aircraft in 1903, there has been a need for training pilots without risking the pilots lives and an aircraft in the process. In 1910, the French commanders Clolus and Laffont and Lieutenant Clavenad, built the first aircraft ground training device, the "Tonneau Antoinette" (Antoinette barrel). Thus, began the precursor of flight trainers and ultimately simulators. A flight trainer is a ground-based device that mimics aircraft flight. The most successful early flight trainer was the “Link Trainer”, produced by Edwin Link in Binghamton, New York, starting in 1929. The Link Trainer is a basic metal frame flight trainer usually painted in its well-known blue color.

Louis James Hector III Service Trunk

Recently, the San Diego Air & Space Museum received a donation of Louis James Hector’s service trunk. This unique artifact contains WWII related memorabilia including his flight log, silk maps, photographs, medals, his caps and uniform pieces, aircraft manuals and correspondence.

Lucky Lindy Record

The San Diego Air & Space Museum holds a large collection of Audio and Visual recordings. These recordings come in many formats, including good old phonographic records. One of these records in our collection shows how popular Charles Lindbergh was, as it contains not one, but two songs about the hero aviator.

Messerschmitt Bf 109K Panel

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the workhorse of the German Luftwaffe in World War Two. Produced in large numbers and in many variants, it saw service from the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) through the end of WW II and during the first conflict in the Middle-East between Israel and Egypt in 1948-49.