I am old enough to have qualified in a Link trainer.  There wasn't
much to it.  You were under a hood with no visual reference to the
environment.  The object was to keep the "aircraft" upright and in
the air by watching airspeed, needle and ball, and gyro horizon.
Just when you thought you had it, the operator would introduce
upsetting conditions and you needed to respond.  It was a challenge
by 1940s standards but quaint compared to current flight simulation.

If you flunked the Link trainer you got a rifle or a mop.  If you
passed you went on to a real primary trainer aircraft and tried not
to kill yourself or anyone else.  I survived flight training.

Interestingly, another player piano related company, Chicago Pneumatic,
made novel automatic canons for large WW2 naval ships.  They fired with
alternating barrels and were leveled by pneumatic bellows.  The sailors
referred to the guns as "Chicago Pianos" .

Bill Finch