Gyro !
The Life and Times of Lawrence Sperry
Davenport, William Wyatt
Foreword by James H. (Jimmy) Doolittle.
This rich and entertaining biography tells the story of one of the most extraordinary men in aviation history. Lawrence Sperry, mechanical genius and fearless pilot, began his career at the age of eighteen when he built his own full-size glider - in his family's house! At the Dayton Air Show in 1918, he thrilled the crowds with his bold parachute jump. He invented the turn-and-bank indicator, the automatic pilot, and retractable landing gear, all still used on modern jets today, and he perfected the aerial torpedo. Famous for his graceful Messenger plane, Lawrence popularized flying as never before - on a Sunday afternoon he might be seen doing loop-the-loops under the Brooklyn Bridge!
Devastatingly handsome, Lawrence was always surrounded by women and was the first to fly a woman over New York City. His pranks had humorous, at times scandalous, results.
Gyro ! is suffused with Lawrence's unquenchable spirit. We see him risk his life time and again for inventions that were to alter the course of aviation history. We meet his courageous wife, a beautiful young movie actress who gave up her successful career to marry him, and the men who helped and opposed him. We see the stirring changes and fashions of American life in the early 1900s. With exceptional in-sight and vivid detail, William Davenport brings an unsung American hero to life.
Hardcover with dust jacket
348 Seiten / pages
many photos
good condition
New York - 1978 - Charles Scribner´s Sons
Art.Nr. 22512
