Verville-Sperry M-1 Messenger, Variants, and Programs

[Dynoman]

Looking into the Verville-Sperry M-1 Messenger, the aircraft has had an interesting history having been used as an early aeronautical testbed aircraft for pioneering various technologies and concepts. I thought a dedicated thread to this little remarkable aircraft would be of interest to some as it made a relatively big impact on aviation for its size. Achievements in the area of variable cambered wings, radio controlled 'aerial torpedo's', airship-airplane docking, detachable landing gear, and other events that used the M-1 Messenger to be discussed.

The designer of the M-1 Messenger was Alfred V. Verville, who initially worked in the automotive industry and then as a draftsman for Curtiss Aeroplane Company, Aeromarine Plane & Motor Company, Thomas-Morse Airplane Company and the General Aeroplane Company, where he developed his first design, the Verville Flying Boat. Verville then moved on to the Fisher Body company that had a contract to build DeHavilland DH-4s in Detroit, MI.

When the US entered WWI, Verville went to work as a civilian at McCook Field, OH and designed the Pulitzer Speed Classic Trophy winning aircraft the Verville-Packard R-1. After the war in 1919, General Billy Mitchell sought a design for a battlefield messenger aircraft that would replace the motorcycle. It needed to be lightweight, simple construction, and rugged enough to land on roadways and unimproved fields. The design was contracted to the Sperry Aircraft Company led by Lawrence Sperry, the son of inventor Elmer Sperry, the inventor of the auto-pilot. The result was the Air Service Engineering Division's M-1 Messenger, 22-1 McCook P-373.

 

[Dynoman]

The Sperry Messenger was the first full-scale aircraft tested in the Langley Propeller Research Wind Tunnel in 1927.
A number of full-scale wind tunnel research projects using the small Messenger would allow investigators to examine and analyze the aircraft in a full-scale laboratory setting and then flight test the same aircraft to validate their laboratory methodologies. Below are a few of NACA reports generated in the wind tunnel using models and full-scale Messenger aircraft.

Search - NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

ntrs.nasa.gov

 

[Dynoman]

Sperry experimented with skids on the Sperry Messenger. Gen. Billy Mitchell was in attendance during the early demonstration flights and remarked that the aircraft's ability to drop its main gear during takeoff and then land on skids would allow the aircraft to land on rough terrain and slide-out in less distance than with wheels. The pictures show the aircraft with and without its main gear and ground crewmen tilting the aircraft over on its nose to reposition the gear back on to the aircraft.

 

[Dynoman]

Messenger Aerial Torpedo

"In February 1920, the Air Service let several contracts, to support the aerial torpedo program including one to the Sperry Aircraft Company, who would develop better gyroscopes. They installed these devices in a Standard E-1 airplane and also constructed five Messenger Airplanes for testing. In May of 1921, Colonel Gearheart took the airplanes to Mitchel Field, New York and began flight testing. That summer the test team conducted several flights and though many resulted in reasonable distances with varying results in accuracy, it was impossible to place airplanes in line and expect the gyroscopic controls to work with any degree of satisfaction. Eventually, through trial and error, the test team made corrections and by November several flights traveled near thirty miles with a considerable degree of accuracy. However, between December 1921 and April 1922, the group debated the impossibility of maintaining a predetermined course without some type of course correction equipment. As a result, in June 1923, the Chief of the Engineering Division at McCook Field reported that “The development of the Aerial Torpedo has reached a point that it becomes evident that the use of a remote control by radio will play an important part in the perfections and application of this weapon.” In 1924, contractors installed an automatic take-off and control apparatus in the test airplanes and the test team moved their operation to Langley Field, Virginia. While there, the team demonstrated that the airplane could take off and climb to the preset altitude without human assistance. It was reported that, “The future possibilities of the use of the Aerial Torpedo are numerous, their main one being to have much greater range than the Artillery, i.e., they could reach Depots of Ammunition and supplies far behind the enemy line.” There was talk of superimposing radio control upon the automatic pilot to control the torpedoes as a group from either home station or an orbiting airplane. In November 1924, the Chief of the Air Service approved the purchase and installation of radio equipment, but the weight of the equipment would impede quick testing. As a result, the program stalled for the next few years and because of a lack of funds, in May 1932, the Army stopped all work on a bomb-carrying aerial torpedo."
https://www.hill.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1652910/science-at-war-early-guided-missiles/

 

[Dynoman]

At the end of WWI German and Allied air forces had experimented with the idea of carrying a fighter aircraft aloft while attached to a zeppelin or blimp. All of these concepts involved carrying the aircraft along with the airship and then releasing them to fight off an attacker. However, they could not return to the mothership and would have to fly to the nearest airfield if available.

In December 1918 a US Navy C-1 blimp flew a Curtiss JN-4 aloft successfully and launched it, but it did not reattach the airship. Lawrence Sperry approached the US Air Service at McCook Field with the idea of using a Verville-Sperry Messenger to fly on and off a Navy airship. He received a contract to modify an M-1 and attempt the feat.

"First, to determine that the hook-on craft could hold steady formation beneath a larger craft, he installed a vertical rod above the center section of the Messenger, which he then flew close under an Army de Havilland DH-4 observation airplane from which a rope ladder had been lowered. The bottom rung of the ladder had been smeared with a mixture of lampblack and grease; the area of the rod over which the grease marks were found as an indication of how well he had been able o hold formation."

"Sperry then designed a structure above the Messenger's center section that combined a support for the manually operated hook and guard for the prop."

Unfortunately, Sperry died while flying a Messenger over the English Channel when he took a break from the project to handle business in Europe.

The Army project resumed later that year. "On October 3, 1924, the small light Messenger was carried aloft by the Army Blimp TC-7, and released. The engine was started after release by a modification of Sperry's earlier propeller-leveling device for the wheels-to-skids modification."
"The first hookup test was conducted with the TC-3 blimp on December 13, 1924. It did not go well; apparently the Army pilot did not have Sperry's skill for formation flying. He rammed the trapeze and bro the propeller. The test was conducted directly over the blimp's base in anticipation of jus an event, and the airplane landed safely."
"Several successful hook-ups wee made later that month. The worked right, but the Army did nothing more with it. It remained for the Navy to perfect the procedure fr.om 192 to 1935." (Peter M. Bowers, AOPA Magazine, April 1983).

Below are the aircraft with hook and trapeze installations, the hook-up with TC-3, and the painted up M-1 (not the actual M-1) used in the experiment.

 

[avion ancien]

For more on the Sperry Messenger (G-EBIJ) in which Lawrence Sperry lost his life, see http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=2483.msg44592#msg44592.

 

[Dynoman]

more on the Sperry Messenger (G-EBIJ)

The last Messenger that Sperry flew. A Messenger shipped to England and registered in Europe for demonstrations with the British Air Ministry. Sperry was negotiating the use of the Messenger as an aerial torpedo and as a liaison aircraft. While there he participated in delivering political leaflets for the Liberal Party which had dominated the news there. Word of his exploits in delivering the leaflets attracted French and Dutch aviation official's attention and they invited Sperry to demonstrate the aircraft in their countries. Sperry accepted their invitations and departed Croydon Airdrome on December 13, 1923. He flew out over the Channel and was seen descending about three miles off shore. As alerted parties rushed to mount a rescue, a fog bank rolled in. After a few hours of searching the aircraft was found floating with just the upper wing visible on the surface of the water, but no Sperry. It is believed that he attempted to swim ashore. His body was discovered on January 11 in the Channel.

 

[Dynoman]

Sperry Messenger considered as a submarine deck launched aircraft. However, the Martin MS-1 design was pursued instead.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2019/february/floatplane-what-part-ii

 

[Dynoman]

Another Messenger M-1 converted in to a MAT.

 

[Stargazer]

Messenger versions as per my own database:

• The name Verville-Sperry has stuck and is often used by historians, but does not correspond to a company.
  
• Lawrence Sperry gained attention when he landed his personal Messenger in front of the Capitol building and bounced up the front steps in Washington D.C. He also successfully landed his little Messenger at the Lincoln Memorial.
  
• Several Messengers were used for varied experimental work, such as droppable landing gear tests, gyro stabilizer tests or variable camber wing tests. With a hook mounted above the upper wing, a Messenger [A. S. 68533] piloted by Lt. Rex K. Stoner hooked onto a trapeze suspended from the D-3 Army Air Service airship in the first successful contact between an airplane and an airship while in flight, on Sep. 18, 1923, over Langley Field, Virginia. Sperry lost his life on Dec. 13, crashing in the English Channel while demonstrating that plane, which was later rebuilt and modified by Clarence Chamberlin in 1928 for use in demonstrations to publicize lightplane aviation.
  
• Only two Messengers wound up on civil registers after 1927: one as [NS35] (c/n 1), the other as [4248, c/n unknown], the latter being rebuilt as the Chamberlin Puddle Jumper.
  
• ALSO SEE Parker (Raymond L.) AND Hansen (Graham) for two homebuilt replicas of the Messenger.
  

 

[Dynoman]

That is awesome research! The Clarence Chamberlin 1928 'Puddle Jumper' carried the registration X-4248 (see picture below). It was modified with a different wing, using a different airfoil and rounded wingtip.

The 'cabin concept' is unfamiliar to me. The photo, although similar to the Messenger drag photos of the NACA at Langley, is of a different project. Attached is the photo from the Messenger drag study and that study, which was initiated to research radial engine cowlings and their form tapering to the fuselage. This 1926 research won the NACA the Collier Trophy in 1929. I've placed the two side by side for comparison.

 

[Dynoman]

Drag studies conducted by the NACA used P-249 68473 on loan from McCook Field. This was one of the early collaborations between the NACA and the Air Service, which helped to pave the way for joint research projects between the civilian agency and the military.

A photo of the aircraft without its wings. The Sperry Airplane Company was identified as having made six sets of different wings to test on the Messenger for tunnel research. Sheet metal was used to cover the fuselage at various openings, such as the cockpit, for a build-up drag study.

 

[Stargazer]

That is awesome research!

Thanks! I spent many years on my U.S. aircraft research, and I'm glad that it can be of help. Hopefully it will be uploaded online in a few months when I can rework it on a new computer with the proper software in my new home. For now I'm surrounded with dozens of cardboard boxes and working from an ageing portable computer which is less than satisfactory...

The Sperry Airplane Company was identified as having made six sets of different wings to test on the Messenger for tunnel research. Sheet metal was used to cover the fuselage at various openings, such as the cockpit, for a build-up drag study.

Great info, thanks! So what appeared to be a cabin version was actually just that airframe with the cockpit covered for drag studies? Makes sense!