Simulator having two independently servo-controlled projection systems

An air combat simulator including, in combination:

• a part spherical screen;
• a simulated manned aircraft consisting of a pilot's control station positioned to view the screen and having flight controls operable for generating flight control signals;
• a movably mounted horizon projector operable for projecting onto said screen a sky and ground terrain scene;
• first servo-motor means coupled to said first projector for steering the projector;
• a t.v. projection system operable for projecting onto said screen an image of an opponent's aircraft, the t.v. projection system comprising a movably mounted housing containing a cathode ray tube for forming a t.v. picture of said opponent's aircraft, focusing means for projecting said t.v. picture to form said image, second servo-motor means, independent from said first servo-motor means, coupled to said housing for steering said housing to change the position of said image on said screen, and controllable deflection signal generating means connected to said cathode ray tube for varying the raster size of said t.v. picture and hence also the size of said projected image;
• and
• computer means, connected to said flight controls, said first and second servo-motor means and said deflection signal generating means, for (a) calculating the position and attitude of the simulated manned aircraft as determined by said flight control signals and steering said horizon projector accordingly, (b) calculating the relative position and attitude of the two aircraft, (c) making tactical decisions concerning the path of the opponent's aircraft relative to the sky and ground terrain scene based on the relative positions and attitudes of the two aircraft, (d) calculating the position and attitude of the opponent's aircraft based upon a combination of the tactical decisions and the relative position and attitude of the two aircraft and steering said housing of said t.v. projection system accordingly, and (e) calculating the relative size of the opponent's aircraft in accordance with the calculated range between the two aircraft and to vary the image size of the opponent's aircraft accordingly.