During WWI, a daredevil pilot helped invent the first 'drones'

During WWI, a daredevil pilot helped invent the first 'drones'

On November 21, 1916, pilot and inventor Lawrence Sperry was flying over Long Island’s Great South Bay with his student Dorothy Rice Pierce when his plane suddenly plunged into the water.  Sperry later admitted that he’d accidentally bumped the autopilot, a technology he’d recently invented, disengaging it and causing the crash. Both survived, although Pierce suffered a fractured pelvis. The crash spawned sensational headlines such as “Aerial Pe…