Viewing page 33 of 34

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

In 1921 his [[crossed-out]]C[[crossed-out]]aompany produced a number of "Messengers" for the Air Service [[crossed-out]]and[[crossed-out]] while Lawrence was secretly continuing experiments with the aerial torpedo [[crossed-out]]project[[crossed-out]]. 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. Known as the Verville-Sperry Racer, it was also 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 [[crossed-out]]M.P.H[[crossed-out]] mph with a 300 [[crossed-out]]H.P.[[crossed-out]] hp Hispano engine, then later a 400 [[crossed-out]]H.P[[crossed-out]] Curtiss D-12 engine installation brought the speed up to 220 [[crossed-out]] M.P.H. [[crossed-out]] mph.

In March, 1923 Sperry Flying in a "Messenger", made contact with a DH-4 in flight [[crossed-out]]with his Messenger [[crossed-out]] at Mitchel[[crossed-out]]l [[crossed-out]] Field, Long Island. He continued development [[crossed-out]]on[[crossed-out]] of aerial torpedoes, using at times a standard E-1, an English Avro, and Sperry "Messenger" planes. [[crossed-out]] and [[crossed-out]] 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-[[crossed-out]]To[[crossed-out]]-St. Louis" cross-country race for civilian planes. Leaving Long Island at 5 [[crossed-out]]A.M. [[crossed-out]] on October 19th 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 attended to some business. He left there and flew to McCook Field, at noon, where he had dinner, then left by moonlight for St. Louis, arriving there at midnight. He won 4th place in the contest, losing [[crossed-out]]F[[crossed-out]]first [[crossed-out]]P[[crossed-out]]place as he announced his starting place as Washington, D.C. At St. Louis he startled the town by his antics, landing in streets and even taxiing up to his hotel. After the event he flew to Dearborn, Michigan, where he was the guest of Henry Ford who was astounded by some of his unusual demonstrations. He then flew back to Long Island, completing over 2,500 miles by air.

Immediately after this, Sperry sailed for England with his "Messenger" to do some aerial touring in Europe and conduct business appointments in connection with his aerial torpedo developments. He docked at Plymouth, England, and flew to

5

Transcription Notes:
The first sentence of the third paragraph got a bit confusing so there might be mistakes there.