Gyro!: The Life and Times of Lawrence Sperry

by William W. Davenport

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684157934
• ISBN13: 9780684157931
• Release Date: January 1978
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 348 Pages
• Weight: 1.61 lbs.

Customer Reviews

This is a fun book, about a little known aviation pioneer.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I don't know if it's because the people it describes were so interesting or if the author has picked out their most charming and fascinating characteristics to write about. This is the story of Lawrence Sperry, the son of the Sperry who invented the gyroscopes used in ships the world over. The family was well to do by the time Lawrence (or "Gyro" as he was called) was a boy. From the beginning Lawrence was irrepressible. Upon reading of the Wright brothers' success he proceeded to build an airplane of his own in the basement and attic of his house... while his parents were away on vacation. He was something like 15 or 16 at the time. He wound up cutting a hole in his parent's 2nd floor bedroom wall to get the wing outside. The plane later flew both as a towed glider and with an engine. From the book's description, the family sort of adapted to Lawrence's bursts of energy and devotion to flying, and let him escape from the drudgery of attending college. Ultimately Lawrence invented most of the instruments pilots still rely on today: autopilot, turn-and-bank indicator, articifical horizon, the seat-bottom parachute, etc. All by the time he was 26. This is a charmingly written book about the early years of aviation, which may lead you to read other books about this period.