Dr. George A. Spratt and his son, George G. Spratt, with their glider in 1909.

Two original thinkers, creators and lifelong experimenters in aviation.

Dr. George A. Spratt was an important participant at the Wright brothers' Kitty Hawk experiments in 1901, 1902 and 1903 (left the site due to a severe cold just before the First Wright Powered Flight on December 17, 1903)

Wilbur Wright, in a letter to George  A. Spratt dated October 16, 1909,

"It is quite true ... you told to us your idea of balancing the lift of a surface against its drift (as you have described it,) and determining their relationship directly, instead of measuring each independently ..... We have not wished to deprive you of the credit for the idea .... "

The Wright brothers succeeded, in part, as a result of Dr. Spratt's idea from which the Wrights cleverly developed the machinery to measure and produce realistic and usable "lift to drag" ratios which were necessary to maximize for powered flight.

Even today, aeronautical performance is measured in the ratio "L/D".

This website is dedicated to the memory of Dr. George A. Spratt and his son, George G. Spratt, who each made remarkable contributions to help realize mankind's desire to fly.

The Spratts solved the problem of "airplane longitudinal stability" in a different, equally valid way than the Wright brothers and the resulting "conventional airplanes" as we know them today.