Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane for eight years, and yet Sperry became intrigued with the concept of applying radio control to them. He realized that for radio control to be effective, automatic stabilization would be essential, so he decided to adapt his naval gyro-stabilizers (which he had developed for destroyers). In 1913, the Navy provided a flying boat to test and evaluate the gyro-based autopilot. Sperry's son Lawrence served as an engineer during the test phase. In 1914, Lawrence Sperry was in Europe and observed the developing techniques of aerial warfare, including the use of aircraft. In 1916, the two Sperrys joined Peter Hewitt, an
The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry Score in the 2009 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry" was released theatrically on September 18, 2009 in 118 theaters. By November 2009, a total of 240 theaters had been booked, each sponsored by a church or Christian group. Each group paid $2,000 to get the film into a theater, and were given back the investment if the film grossed $4,500 in their individual theatre. In its opening weekend, "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry" made $258,400 domestically. It had strong box office holds for several weeks, accumulating $1,169,828 to date. Randall Christy of the Gospel