Before the C-130 sims were delivered, we studes at 242 OCU, RAF Thorney Island, were driven along the coast to the Link Miles factory at Lancing for training on one there. The site was originally the Carriage & Wagon Works of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, and the sim was in one of their original brick buildings, with the visual model situated in the attic of the pitched roof.
The limitations of this arrangement became clear when the simulated emergency climaxed in incredibly realistic flames erupting on the windscreen visual monitors. It transpired that the realism was caused by real flames as the intense heat from the lighting required had caused the model to catch fire. The session finished with a real evacuation from the sim and then from the building, followed by a real appearance of the emergency services.
Who says that sims then weren't realistic?