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did some astounding things with it. It had a very low landing speed, a top speed of 95 mph and a fuel consumption of over 20 miles per gallon. Sperry flew it extensively, landed almost anywhere, kept it in his garage and used it to go to work, occasionally taking off and landing in streets. 

In 1921 his company produced a number of "Messengers" for the Air Service while Lawrence was secretly continuing experiments with the aerial torpedo. On October 21st, he rode as a passenger in one on an automatically controlled flight from Long Island to Pennsylvania. 

In March, 1922, he flew his "Messenger" to Washington, D.C., landed and took off in front of the Army and Navy buildings, the Lincoln Memorial, and then on the Capitol Plaza and paid a visit to Congress. In July Sperry took a contract to build a special racing monoplane for the Air Service. Know as the Verville-Sperry Racer, it was designed by Verville at McCook Field and built by Sperry. It was a full-cantilever, low-wing monoplane with retractable landing gear. The first rated speed was 180 mph with a 300-horsepower Hispano engine, then later a 400-horsepower Curtiss D-12 engine installation brought the speed up to 220 mph. 

In March, 1923, Sperry, flying a "Messenger," made contact with a DH-4 in flight at Mitchel Field, Long Island. He continued development of aerial torpedoes, at times using a Standard E-1, an English Avro, and Sperry "Messenger" planes. Three special "Messenger" aerial torpedo planes were delivered to McCook Field, where he was also engaged in parachute and refueling-in-flight developments. 

In October Sperry decided to attend the National Air Races at St. Louis, Missouri, and entered the "On-to-St. Louis" cross-country race for civilian planes. Leaving Long Island at 5 a.m. on October 19 he flew his "Messenger" to Washington, D.C., where he attended to some business. He left there and flew to McCook Field at noon where he had dinner, then left by moonlight for 

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