Page 37 - Demo

Aviation Pioneer Issues1985-1988Alfred V. VervilleC113%u2014February 13, 1985Verville was a co-designer, with Glenn Curtiss, of the Curtiss JN-4 Jennybiplane, and the Curtiss twin-engined seaplane. With Lawrence Sperry, he designed and produced the VervilleSperry Classic Trophy which set the world speed record in 1924 at 216 mph. Lawrence and Elmer SperryC114%u2014February 13, 1985Elmer Sperry, who held over 400 patents, invented a gyro compass. His son Lawrence helped develop and test the automatic pilot and retractable landing gear. Elmer died in 1930, and Lawrence drowned in 1923 after crashing on a flight over the English Channel.Samuel P. LangleyC118%u2014May 14, 1988Langley was the inventor of the unpiloted 25-pound Aerodrome No. 5, which he launched from a catapult attached to the top of a houseboat. It had a pair of wings at each end, with propellers in the middle, and made a 3,300-foot-long flight%u2014the first heavierthan-air machine to do so.Igor SikorskyC119%u2014June 23, 1988Sikorsky fled the Russian Revolution to become an American citizen. He was a leading aircraft designer, and designed and built first practical single-rotor helicopter, the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, the craft pictured on this stamp. It was successfully flown in 1940, and went into production in 1942.