GB751628A - Flight training apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

751,628. Training aircraft pilots. COMMUNICATIONS PATENTS, Ltd. Feb. 16, 1954, No. 4569/54. Class 4. Flight training apparatus providing, for a student pilot, an image of an object substantially as it would be seen from an aircraft includes a representation of the object, a television camera directed at the object, a receiver responsive to signals from the camera and positioned to project a corresponding image of the representation on to a screen viewed by the pilot, means capable of producing relative movement of the camera and the representation in accordance with assumed or computed change of position of the aircraft, means to modify the size of the image on the screen in accordance with the assumed or computed range of the aircraft from the object, and means capable of producing angular movement of the receiver to position the image on the screen so that its train and elevation angles with respect to the viewpoint of the student pilot correspond to the assumed or computed train and elevation angles of the object from the aircraft. The representation comprises a model aircraft carrier 13 mounted on a table 14 rotatable about two mutually perpendicular axes, one diametral and the other axial. The camera 9 is mounted on a bar 10 which carries a counterweight 11 and is supported on a pedestal 12 having a threaded bore to engage a lead-screw 15, operated by a motor 16, whereby the range of the camera from the model may be varied in accordance with assumed or computed values. Signals from the camera 9 are transmitted to a projector 25 mounted above the pilot's cockpit of a dummy aircraft fuselage 25 and directed at a semicircular screen 28. A second projector 27, comprising a light source and a translucent representation of the sky and horizon, is mounted above the projector 26. Both projectors are mounted for universal freedom of controlled movement whereby their train and elevation angles may be varied in accordance with assumed or computed variation of the corresponding angles of the aircraft and the scanning coils of the cathode-ray tube in projector 26 may be rotated about the longitudinal axis of the tube to correct for a change of orientation of the image of the model due to a change of attitude and heading of the aircraft.