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
Flight of the Intruder (novel) Flight of the Intruder (novel) Flight of the Intruder is a novel written by Stephen Coonts in 1986 telling the stories of United States Navy aviators flying the A-6 Intruder – a two-man, all-weather, aircraft carrier based strike aircraft on missions during the Vietnam War. The main character is Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton, a naval aviator who appears in a series of sequels. The book, which was made into a movie of the same name and adapted into a video game, marked the beginning of Stephen Coonts' career as a best-selling novelist. "Flight of the Intruder" begins with a night