Postwar Years
Link family on board Blue Heron
Link employees and military officials receving a demonstration of the C-118 Basic Jet Trainer, comissioned during the Korean War.
As Link Aviation continued to grow, so did Link's interest in sailing, diving, and commerical aquatic inventions. The scale of their industry with its rapid manufacturing prevented Link from fully engaging in the hands-on type of engineering he loved, and he found that the ocean could offer all that he was missing. He still maintained a steady presence at Link Aviation but more and more, Ed and Marion and their two sons, Bill and Clayton, escaped to Florida aboard their sail boat, Blue Heron.
The postwar transition that Link had dreaded was avoided when the simulator industry captured the interest of commercial airlines, who required a steady stream of flight trainers. The outbreak of the Korean War also ensured that Link’s company would comfortably endure the years to come. In 1954, Ed and George Link sold Link Aviation to General Precision Equipment Corporation, and Ed finally turned his sights fully to the sea.
Exterior of a Singer Link Divsion factory building. The Singer Corporation in turn bought General Precision Equipment Corporation in 1968, and would change hands several more times. Singer Link had many divisions, including one division located in Kirkwood, New York.
George Link speaking to a crowd of Link employees
Group photo behind George Link's house in Port Crane