Mr. Ruggles and his "orientator" at Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas, 1928.
The Ruggles orientator, consisted of a seat mounted within a gimbal ring assembly which enabled full rotation of the pupil in all three axes and in addition provided vertical movement. All motions were produced by electric motors controllable by the simulated sticks and rudder bars of the student and examiner. This device was stated to be useful for "developing and training the functions of the semi-circular canals and incidentally to provide such a machine for training aviators to accustom themselves to any possible position in which they may be moved by the action of an aeroplane while in flight", it must have been good fun too :-). A further optimistic claim was that the aviator could be blindfolded "so that the sense of direction may be sensitized without the assistance of the visual senses. In this way the aviator when in fog or intense darkness may be instinctively conscious of his position".
The North American Museum of Flight Simulation Society, Canada
Our Museum is still a dream, but we are moving in the right direction and will keep you posted on our status. A website is in the making and we are currently in the process of filing for Charitable status so we can issue tax receipts (in Canada) for all donations.
The North American Museum of Flight Simulation invites people of all ages and from all regions to explore the wonders of flight simulation. It will do this by collecting and displaying working and static Flight Simulators and their history, showing the significance—scientific and technical, as well as economic, that simulators have contributed to the North America and the worlds aviation industry.