SINGER TIMELINE
| Link Eternal | Missing Links | Event News | From Our Past | LAL Pictures | LAL News | Web Page Links | E-mail Addresses | Website stats |
This summary has been compiled from the sources listed below. I tried to do a graphical representation, but things started to look like spaghetti in recent years, so I settled on a text format. If you see errors, or have additional input, contact Phil Hoeper.
| EVENT | YEAR |
SOURCE |
||
| Isaac Merritt Singer forms the Singer company. | 1851 |
1 |
||
| ACF formed by consolidation of 13 railroad equipment manufacturers | 1899 |
1 |
||
| Edwin Link builds his first airplane simulator (the “Blue Box”) | 1927 |
1 |
||
| Edwin Link starts Link Aeronautical Corp. | 1929 |
1 |
||
| E A Link invents Link Trainer | 1929 |
2 |
||
| ERCO incorporated in DC | 1930 |
1 |
||
| Link Manufacturing Co LTD established in Gananoque, ON for British and Canadian markets |
1934 |
2 |
||
| ERCO reincorporated in MD | 1936 |
1 |
||
| GPE founded by Hermann Gauntlett Place holding co for Several theatrical equipment firms |
1936 |
2 |
||
| GPE bought Librascope Development Company | 1941 |
2 |
||
| Air Trainers LTD formed as successor to JVW Corp LTD | 1946 |
2 |
||
| F G Miles LTD founded to produce aircraft | 1948 |
2 |
||
| ERCO starts producing flight simulators | 1949 |
1 |
||
| ACF starts work for Atomic Energy Commission | 1950 |
1 |
||
| GPE bought Kearfott Co, Inc and Kearfott Manufacturing Co | 1952 |
2 |
||
| ERCO purchased by ACF | 1954 |
1 |
||
| Link Aviation merges with General Precision Equipment Co (GPE) | 1954 |
1 |
||
| Link Aviation sold to GPE | 1954 |
2 |
||
| GPE bought Link Aviation | 1954 |
2 |
||
| Link acquires controlling interest in Air Trainers LTD | 1956 |
2 |
||
| ERCO division merges with another ACF division to form Nuclear Products – ERCO division In Riverdale, MD |
1957 |
1 |
||
| Link interest of Air Trainers transferred to GPE, which became GPS Ltd | 1959 |
2 |
||
| Librascope, Kearfot, GPL and Link Aviation became General Precision | 1960 |
2 |
||
| GPE buys Riverdale operations | 1965 |
1 |
||
| GPE buys part of ACF Electronics Div(was ERCO), moves to Silver Spring, MD | 1965 |
2 |
||
| ERCO sold to American Car & Foundry (ACF) | 1965 |
2 |
||
| GPE buys ACF Electronics Division (Riverdale) and moves it to Silver Spring MD | 1965 |
2 |
||
| General Precision Systems holds Kearfott | 1966 |
2 |
||
| GPE moves the division to Montgomery Industrial Park, in Silver Spring, MD | 1967 |
1 |
||
| GPS holds Link Division | 1967 |
2 |
||
| GPS Ltd sold to Redifon LTD | 1967 |
2 |
||
| Singer buys the division, naming it Simulation Products Division | 1968 |
1 |
||
| GPE merges with Singer Co | 1968 |
1 |
||
| GPE bought by Singer | 1968 |
2 |
||
| Singer buys GPE | 1968 |
2 |
||
| Silve Spring operation renamed Simulation Products Division | 1968 |
2 |
||
| Link acquires controlling interest in Link Miles LTD | 1969 |
2 |
||
| Link bought Miles Electronics LTD, Lancing, Sussex, England rename as Link-Miles | 1969 |
2 |
||
| Omnidata is formed to build simulation equipment | 1970 |
1 |
||
| Silve Spring operation renamed Link Division | 1976 |
2 |
||
| Ed Link dies | 1981 |
1 |
||
| Singer splits off Simulation Systems Division (SSD) to do non-flight simulator work | 1981 |
1 |
||
| Link SSD split off to do nuclear, fossil, industrial and tactical simulators | 1981 |
2 |
||
| Link Flight Simulation Division split off to expand aircarft and space simulator business | 1981 |
2 |
||
| Link buys Omnidata, a supplier of training equpment (cheap simulators) | 1984 |
1 |
||
| Simuflite formed by Singer to do pilot training | 1984 |
2 |
||
| Kearfott Division sold to Astronautics Corp of America | 1987 |
2 |
||
| Bilzerian buys Singer | 1987 |
2 |
||
| CAE buys the Link Simulation Systems from Singer. The Silver Spring operation(LinkTactical Simulation) did naval and tactical simulation |
1988 |
1 |
||
| Bilzerian sells Link (Silver Spring) to CAE LTD. RenamedCAE-Link | 1988 |
2 |
||
| Kearfott Guidance & Navigation sold to Astronautics Corp of America | 1988 |
2 |
||
| Bilzerian reorganizes – Link-Miles into two: Link-Miles LTD, And Industrial Simulation Corp |
1988 |
2 |
||
| SingerSewing Machine Division sold to Semi-Tech Microelectronics | 1989 |
2 |
||
| Bilzerian renames company at Bicoastal INC | 1989 |
2 |
||
| Bicoastal files for bankruptcy | 1989 |
2 |
||
| Link Tactical Simulation was merged into Link Flight Simulation Div | 1990 |
1 |
||
| Electronics Systems Div of Singer sold to GEC-Marconi | 1990 |
2 |
||
| Link-Miles Simulation Corp (Columbia, MD) renamed S3 Technologies | 1990 |
2 |
||
| BiCoastal sold Link-Miles LTD to Thomson-CSF | 1990 |
2 |
||
| Simuflite sold to Southern Air Transport Inc | 1991 |
2 |
||
| Librascope sold to Loral | 1991 |
2 |
||
| Bicoastal is dissolved | 1992 |
2 |
||
| ManTech buys S3 Technologies | 1993 |
2 |
||
| GSE Systems formed to combine S3 Technologies, EuroSim and GPIES | 1994 |
2 |
||
| Thomson bought Redifussion Simulation from Hughes Aircraft – became Thomson Training & Simulation |
1994 |
2 |
||
| CAE sold CAE-Link to Hughes Electronics Corp | 1995 |
2 |
||
| Librascope sold to Lockheed Martin | 1996 |
2 |
||
| Simuflite sold to GE Capital Services | 1998 |
2 |
||
| GSE buys company which makes plug-compatible I/O system | 1998 |
3 |
||
| CAE-Link resold, becomes L-3 Link Simulation & Training (owned by L-3 Communications) |
2000 |
2 |
||
| Thomson-CSF changes name to Thales; sim part becomes Thales Training & Simulation |
2000 |
2 |
||
| L-3 technologies buys Raytheon simulator operation, naming it L-3 Link Simulation & Training |
2000 |
3 |
||
| Simuflite sold to CAE | 2001 |
2 |
||
| GP Strategies gets controlling interest in GSE Systems | 2003 |
2 |
||
| Singer sewing and trademarks sold to Kohlberg & Company | 2004 |
2 |
||
| L-3 buys Thales civil aircraft simulation and training | 2012 |
4 |
||
Sources:
1 = 50th Anniversary brochure
2= Link Aviation History pdf
3= Phil Hoeper personal observation
4=https://www.l3t.com/link/about#our-innovation-heritage
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This file last modified on November 11, 2020