Lawrence Burst Sperry (21 December 1892,

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, United States – December 13, 1923,

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...

) was an aviation pioneer who invented the

autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator' ...

and the

artificial horizon The attitude indicator (AI), formerly known as the gyro horizon or artificial horizon, is a flight instrument that informs the pilot of the aircraft orientation relative to Earth's horizon, and gives an immediate indication of the smallest or ...

Biography

He was the third son of the

gyrocompass A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and the rotation of the Earth (or another planetary body if used elsewhere in the universe) to find geographical direction automatically. The use of a gyroc ...

co-inventor, Elmer Ambrose Sperry, and his wife Zula. Sperry invented the first

, which he demonstrated with startling success in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1914. Sperry is also credited with developing the

still used on most aircraft in the early 21st century. In 1918 he married film actress Winifred Allen, and ''Flying Magazine'' reported that they were "the first couple to take an aerial honeymoon" after they flew from Amityville to

Governors Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk Channel. The National Park ...

. On 13 December 1923 Sperry took off amid fog in a

Verville-Sperry M-1 Messenger The Sperry Messenger was an American single-seat biplane designed by Alfred V. Verville working for the Engineering Division of the United States Army Air Service (USAAS) and built under contract by Sperry Aircraft Company of Farmingdale, New ...

from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

headed for

but never reached his destination. His body was found in the

on 11 January 1924.

Legacy

A website using the name '' Mile High Club'' regards the "Club's" "founder" as pilot and design engineer Lawrence Sperry, along with "socialite Mrs. Waldo Peirce" (

Dorothy Rice Sims Dorothy may refer to: *Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name. Arts and entertainment Characters *Dorothy Gale, protagonist of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum * Ace (''Doctor Who'') or Dorothy, a character playe ...

) citing their flight in an

-equipped

Curtiss Flying Boat The Curtiss Model H was a family of classes of early long-range flying boats, the first two of which were developed directly on commission in the United States in response to the £10,000 prize challenge issued in 1913 by the London newspaper, t ...

near

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in November 1916.Check-Six.com
– The First at a "Mile-High"

Why, Mrs Peirce and I didn't have what you might dignify by calling a real accident. It was only a trivial mishap. We decided to land on the water and came down perfectly from a height of 600 feet and would have made a perfect landing had not the hull of our machine struck one of the stakes that dot the water, which staved a hole in it.

In 1979, Sperry was inducted into the

International Air & Space Hall of Fame The International Air & Space Hall of Fame is an honor roll of people, groups, organizations, or things that have contributed significantly to the advancement of aerospace flight and technology, sponsored by the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Si ...

at the

San Diego Air & Space Museum San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM, formerly the San Diego Aerospace Museum) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California, United States. The museum is located in Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building, ...

. Sperry was inducted into the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor at the

National Naval Aviation Museum The National Naval Aviation Museum, formerly known as the National Museum of Naval Aviation and the Naval Aviation Museum, is a military and aerospace museum located at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. Founded in 1962 and moved to its cur ...

in Pensacola,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, in 1992.

Sperry Award winners

The Lawrence Sperry Award is presented by the

AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of t ...

for a notable contribution made by a young person, age 35 or under, to the advancement of aeronautics or astronautics. *1936 William C. Rockefeller *1937 Kelly Johnson (engineer) *1938 Russell C. Newhouse *1939 Charles M Kearns Jr. *1941 Ernest G. Stout *1942 Edward C. Wells *1967

Gene Kranz Eugene Francis "Gene" Kranz (born August 17, 1933) is an American aerospace engineer who served as NASA's second Chief Flight Director, directing missions of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, including the first lunar landing mission, Ap ...

*1970 Glynn Lunney *1984

Sally Ride Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space, after cosmonau ...

*1985 William P. Lear *1986

Parviz Moin Parviz Moin ( fa, پرویز معین ''Parviz Mo'in'' born October 23, 1952, Valandan, Shahreza, Iran) is a fluid dynamicist. He is the Franklin P. and Caroline M. Johnson Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. Moin has be ...

*1987 James L. Thomas *1988 David W. Thompson *1989 Cas P. Van Dam *1990 Ilan M. Kroo *1991 Mark Drela *1992 John T. Batina *1993 Tim Barth *1994 William K. Anderson *1995 William P Schonberg *1996 Penina Axelrad *1997 John Kallinderis *1998 Iain D. Boyd *1999 Robert D. Braun *2000 Anna-Maria R. McGowan *2001 Keith A Comeaux *2002 Edward C. Smith *2003 Myles L. Baker *2004 Jeffrey D. Jordan *2005 Tim C. Lieuwen *2006 Lynn Nicole Smith *2007 Amy Pritchett *2008 Ryan P. Starkey *2009 Adam Rasheed *2010 Mitchell L. Walker II *2011 M. Brett McMickell *2012 Hamsa Balakrishnan *2013 Eric J. Ruggiero *2014 Kimberley C. Clayfield *2015 Jeremy T. Pinier *2016 Joshua Rovey *2017 Karen T. Berger *2018 Michael D. West *2019 Katya M. Casper *2020 Patrick R. C. Neumann *2021 Benjamin Jorns *2022 Michael P. Snyder

References

External links

Lawrence Sperry Award
*, article from ''Aviation History Magazine''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sperry, Lawrence 1892 births 1923 deaths Aviation inventors Aviators from Illinois Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Engineers from Illinois People from Chicago 20th-century American engineers Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1923

Biography

Legacy

Sperry Award winners

See also

References

External links